Google Refuses To Comply With New EU Fact-Checking Law

Google has rejected the EU’s call to implement fact-checking on YouTube and Search, defying the new EU disinformation rules. 

According to Axios

The American news website Axios broke the news, saying it had a letter written to the deputy director general for the European Commission’s content and technology wing, Renate Nikolay, by Kent Walker, Google’s global affairs president.  

In the letter, Walker told the EU that the company would not comply with the new EU disinformation rules, which require Google to add fact checks to YouTube and search results.

New EU disinformation code of practice

The new EU Disinformation Code of Practice serves to tackle online disinformation. If Google complied with the code, it would have to display fact-checked results alongside its YouTube video and search results and incorporate fact-checking into its ranking algorithms.

However, like many other tech giants, Google is not interested in complying with the EU Disinformation Code of Practice, which is in keeping with the company’s past practices, as it has never implemented fact-checking in its content. 

Google says its moderation tools are effective enough

According to Axios, Google’s Kent Walker said the tech giant proved its existing content moderation strategy was adequate during last year’s “unprecedented cycle of global elections.” He also highlighted Google’s new YouTube feature, which allows users to add contextual notes to videos, saying it has “significant potential.”

Walker told Renate Nikolay of the EU that the fact-checking integration required by the Commission’s new Disinformation Code of Practice “simply isn’t appropriate or effective for our services, and Google won’t commit to it.”

Walker’s final words were defiant:

  • “Google will pull out of all fact-checking commitments in the Code before it becomes a DSA Code of Conduct.”

Instead, Walker said Google will continue to improve its existing content moderation practices, which provide additional information about search results using the company’s AI disclosures on YouTube and Synth ID watermarking.

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Terry O'Toole

Terry is a seasoned content marketing specialist with over six years of experience writing content that helps small businesses navigate where small businesses meet marketing - SEO, Social Media Marketing, etc. Terry has a proven track record of creating top-performing content in search results. When he is not writing content, Terry can be found on his boat in Italy or chilling in his villa in Spain.

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