EU Stress Test: Social Media Platforms Under Scrutiny

The European Commission will conduct a stress test with major social media platforms to assess their preparedness against disinformation ahead of the German election. Companies like Microsoft, TikTok, and Google are involved, testing their compliance with the Digital Services Act.

The European Commission is set to initiate a stress test with significant social media platforms next week, aiming to assess their capabilities in countering disinformation before the German election next month, an EU spokesperson announced on Friday.

Top platforms including Microsoft, TikTok, LinkedIn, Google, Snap, Meta, and X will participate in the January 31st test. The initiative aims to evaluate whether these platforms have sufficient safeguards as mandated by the Digital Services Act (DSA).

During a press briefing, spokesperson Thomas Regnier explained that the stress test will explore hypothetical scenarios under the DSA framework to examine how these platforms would respond to such situations.

(With inputs from agencies.)