Guaranteeing the freedom of expression on online platforms

Question for written answer  E-006385/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Robert Roos (ECR)

Recent reports show that Big Tech companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Google pose a threat to free speech by regulating their platforms[1]. They use AI and algorithms to monitor and manipulate the content that their users see. During the weeks leading up to and following the US election, Big Tech companies such as Twitter and Facebook imposed limits on election content and banned election‑sceptic groups[2]. Most of these platforms are free from legal scrutiny as they operate in a grey area, being neither a public forum, nor a news media company nor a publisher[3].

• 1.How does the Commission want to ‘harmonise rules and responsibilities of online platforms in the upcoming DSA’, as a one-size-fits-all approach will not resemble the diverse internet landscape[4]?
• 2.What steps is it intending to take in relation to online platforms that are using AI more frequently to combat disinformation and hate speech, bearing in mind that the European Parliamentary Research Service advises against using more AI for content moderation[5]?
• 3.Is the Commission of the opinion that platforms such as Facebook, which see themselves as ‘tech platforms, not as a publisher or media company’, are infringing on the freedom of expression on their platforms by actively regulating and deciding what constitutes hate speech, disinformation and fake news?

• [1] www.foxbusiness.com/technology/ted-cruz-facebook-twitter-google-collectively-pose-single-greatest-threat-to-free-speech-in-america
• [2] www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-takes-down-group-organizing-protests-of-vote-counting-11604603908
• [3] www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/02/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-platform-publisher-lawsuit
• [4] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2020-004488-ASW_EN.html
• [5] European Parliamentary Research Service, Regulating disinformation with artificial intelligence, European Parliament, Brussels, 2019, available at: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/b8722bec-81be-11e9-9f05-01aa75ed71a1