Summary
- Google has informed the EU that it will not comply with proposed requirements to integrate third-party fact-checking into Search and YouTube, as outlined in the EU’s evolving Code of Practice on Disinformation.
- While Google signed the voluntary version of the EU’s disinformation code in 2022, it has now explicitly stated its intention to withdraw from all fact-checking commitments before the code becomes enforceable under the DSA.
- Instead of integrating third-party fact-checks, Google says that it will prioritize enhancing its existing content moderation tools and strategies, including features like YouTube’s contextual notes (similar to Community Notes) and technologies like Synth ID watermarking and AI disclosures.
Google is walking a tight rope in the EU. Soon after the tech giant concluded its blue links search test in the Union, which it says did more harm than good, it is now doubling down on its resistance to EU regulations.
The Mountain View, California-based tech giant just refused to integrate work from fact-checkers into Google Search and YouTube — a requirement under the bloc’s plan to enforce new laws to combat digital disinformation.
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The development was first highlighted by Axios, claiming that they had obtained a copy of an official letter regarding the matter. The code, which has been voluntary up until now, will soon make its way to the Digital Services Act (DSA). According to The Verge, Google had previously signed EU’s voluntary Code of Practice on Disinformation in 2022, alongside 40 other online platforms, including the likes of Adobe, Microsoft, Meta, TikTok, Twitch, and more.
Now, however, in a letter to the deputy director general of the content and technology arm at the European Commission, Google has explicitly stated that it will “pull out of all fact-checking commitments in the Code before it becomes a DSA Code of Conduct,” adding that fact-checking “simply isn’t appropriate or effective for [its] services.”
For what it’s worth, back in 2022, when Google signed the EU’s voluntary ‘Strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation,’ it objected to the majority of fact-checking-related commitments. “Search and YouTube will endeavour to reach agreements with fact checking organizations in line with this measure, but services will not have complete control over this process,” it wrote in one instance. To strike a balance, the tech giant has reportedly indicated (to the EU) that it will focus on enhancing its current moderation strategies.
In the letter, Google’s Global Affairs President, Kent Walker, lauded the performance of Search’s content moderation system, citing its effectiveness in curbing disinformation during the recent “unprecedented cycle of global elections.” Kent also highlighted YouTube’s Community Notes-like feature, and how it has “significant potential,” and how the company will keep investing in features like Synth ID watermarking and AI disclosures on YouTube to combat misinformation and disinformation through alternative methods.
This comes soon after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into the tech giant’s potentially anti-competitive practices.
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