Fifteen MEPs co-signed a written question sent to the European Commission on Wednesday 4 March, calling on it to act on suspicions of massive disinformation and interference on Meta’s social networks (Instagram and Facebook) during the election campaign in Hungary.
According to Lakmusz, a Hungarian fact-checking organisation operating within the HDMO (Hungarian Digital Media Observatory) and part of the EDMO network against disinformation, several dozen cases of sponsored disinformation have been noted in recent weeks.
In particular, the organisation cites a smear campaign orchestrated by a fake investigative website against an opposition politician, as well as a large amount of AI-generated content on war scenarios.
These actions are “all the more serious given that Meta has publicly stated that it has banned political and electoral advertising and advertising on social issues”, says Sandro Gozi (Renew Europe, Italian), who blames the “political climate normalising propaganda” that is “established by Viktor Orbán”.
The MEPs are asking the European Commission for information on the measures taken to guarantee the democratic integrity of the elections and whether it intends to initiate proceedings against Meta under the Digital Services Act (DSA). (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)