The European Union admitted defeat in the fight against fakes on Telegram

The authorities of the European Union are unable to cope with disinformation on Telegram.

Pro-Russian groups, writes Bloomberg, use flexible rules in their work in Telegram, and in EU admit – there is little they can do about it. Digital content in the European Union is governed by the Digital Services Act, adopted in February 2024. Under it, strict obligations can be applied to platforms with more than 45 million active users in Europe. Telegram, according to its owners, has 41 million.

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas notes that to clarify the data, “the European Commission must conduct an independent assessment.” After all, the EU can levy fines of up to 6% of annual sales from large platforms or ban repeat offenders from entering the EU. These rules cover Meta, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram.

Smaller platforms need to worry national agencies – it's in their jurisdiction. In Belgium, for example, calls for violence or damage to property were banned on Telegram. Moderators monitor this and remove content that violates laws. Russian propaganda also uses Telegram channels. According to the EU's internal assessment, the main themes of Russia's disinformation efforts include five topics: war against Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East, immigration, climate change and the upcoming European Parliament elections.

For these topics, the number of unverified items across all platforms more than doubled by early May, up from about 20,000 items per day at the start of the year. Daniel Milo, former director of the Center for Countering Hybrid Threats, says:

“Almost a third of the content on Slovakian Telegram accounts originates from or is directly taken from various Russian sources.”

After the assassination attempt on the Russian-friendly Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico, social networks were filled with conspiracy theories. A Telegram channel with nearly 50,000 subscribers shared a lengthy message about Ukrainian involvement in the assassination attempt, linking to a website masquerading as a British magazine.

Milo believes that Telegram plays a key role in spreading Russian narratives. After all, it allows you to anonymously convey them to a wider audience.

Source link