BRUSSELS: The European Union has urged Meta and TikTok to strengthen monitoring and cooperation with fact-checkers following concerns that online disinformation contributed to last week’s deadly migrant surge into Spain’s North African territory of Ceuta.
EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said the European Commission held talks with both platforms on Friday and called on them to “act decisively” to protect the integrity of the digital space during crises.
Her comments followed the spread of a social media rumour claiming the Ceuta border was open, which is believed to have contributed to tens of thousands of people attempting to enter the Spanish enclave.
Stronger monitoring
“Monitoring must increase, cooperation with fact-checkers to be strengthened,” Virkkunen said, adding that the EU would follow up on the matter on Monday.
Spanish authorities said around 72,000 people entered Ceuta from Morocco on July 30 and 31. Spain subsequently moved to return those who crossed, saying all but around 2,000 had returned by Tuesday. Authorities said 80 people died during the crossings.
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EU migration chief Magnus Brunner described the incident as a test of the bloc’s border security and its ability to respond to disinformation.
Brunner said the crossings were fuelled by criminal smuggling networks and disinformation, but cautioned that it remained too early to determine who was behind the online activity.
He said the EU needed to strengthen its ability to track misinformation trends on social media while working with Europol and other European agencies.
An open-source investigation by technology company Golden Owl concluded with a “high degree of confidence” that the migrant surge had been deliberately organised.
