We Worked On Election Integrity At Meta. The EU – And All Democracies – Need to Fix the Feed Before It’s Too Late
Later this week, voters across Europe will go to the polls for critical elections that will decide control of the EU parliament – and the future of Europe. It’s just one of the many important elections globally. Votes are already cast in India, South Africa, and Mexico, with the UK and US to follow. As data scientists who specialized in election integrity while at Meta, it was our job to find accounts that were engaging in behaviors that could interfere with elections, like those managed by Russia’s Internet Research Agency. We know first hand what it looks like when the system is blinking red – and when a social platform is amplifying disinformation from foreign actors or is allowing hate speech that threatens free and fair elections.
In April, an investigation revealed that Facebook and Instagram are letting a well-known and growing network of pro-Kremlin pages push political ads to millions of Europeans with virtually no moderation. At the same time, the company has shut down vital tools used by researchers, journalists, and election observers, flouting new rules under the Digital Services Act (DSA) to drive transparency and access. Combined with a hollowing out of election integrity teams at Meta, Twitter, and other platforms, as well as a proliferation of electoral deep-fakes and increased actions by Russia and China to influence 2024 elections, these actions have created a perfect storm: growing risks and declining safeguards.
