Tech firms fail to tackle Russian propaganda - EU

Social media companies person failed to halt "large-scale" Russian disinformation campaigns since the penetration of Ukraine, the EU has said.

The EU Commission's study said the "reach and power of Kremlin-backed accounts" had grown further successful 2023.

Russian disinformation has accrued connected X, formerly Twitter, since Elon Musk bought the company, the study added.

The BBC has approached Twitter, Meta, TikTok and YouTube for comment, but has not received a response.

The study, published connected Wednesday, looks astatine attempts to woody with Kremlin-backed disinformation and suggests the emergence has been "driven successful peculiar by the dismantling of Twitter's information standards".

The BBC has antecedently reported that accounts belonging to authoritative Kremlin societal media accounts person propagated mendacious accusation astir the warfare successful Ukraine.

"In implicit numbers, pro-Kremlin accounts proceed to scope the largest audiences connected Meta's platforms. Meanwhile, the assemblage size for Kremlin-backed accounts much than tripled connected Telegram," the study found.

The survey besides concluded that nary level consistently applied its presumption of services successful respective eastbound European languages.

Earlier this period tougher rules nether the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) were introduced for the world's biggest online platforms.

All ample societal media companies indispensable comply with the DSA's stricter rules that request a much assertive attack to policing contented - including disinformation and hatred code - from "very large" platforms with astatine slightest 45 cardinal monthly progressive users.

The survey concluded that if the DSA had been operational earlier past month, societal media companies would person breached their ineligible duties - resulting successful imaginable fines.

"Over the people of 2022, the assemblage and scope of Kremlin-aligned societal media accounts accrued substantially each implicit Europe," the survey found.

The study besides refers to a tweet from 9 April successful which Elon Musk confirmed his level would nary longer "limit" Kremlin-run accounts.

"It is simply a anemic determination to prosecute successful censorship conscionable due to the fact that others bash so. Letting our property beryllium escaped erstwhile theirs is not demonstrates strength," Mr Musk tweeted astatine the time.

Twitter had "limited" accounts successful April past twelvemonth - which means the accounts volition nary longer beryllium recommended successful timelines, notifications oregon elsewhere connected the site. That was nether a erstwhile absorption team.

However the institution had resisted banning galore Kremlin-run profiles - starring to disapproval astatine the clip that Vladimir Putin had not been banned from the site, erstwhile erstwhile President Donald Trump had.