Google has told the EU it will not comply with a forthcoming fact-checking law, according to a copy of a letter obtained by Axios. The company states

Google decides it won't comply with EU fact-checking law

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2025-01-17 00:00:19

Google has told the EU it will not comply with a forthcoming fact-checking law, according to a copy of a letter obtained by Axios. The company states that it will not be adding fact checks to search results or YouTube videos and will not use fact-checking data when ranking or removing content.

It’s important to note that Google has never really participated in fact-checking as part of its content moderation policies. The company did, however, invest in a European fact-checking database ahead of recent EU elections.

The upcoming fact-checking requirement was originally implemented by the European Commission’s new Code of Practice on Disinformation. It started as a voluntary set of “self-regulatory standards to fight disinformation” but will soon become mandatory.

Google's global affairs president Kent Walker said the fact-checking integration "simply isn't appropriate or effective for our services" in a letter to the European Commission. The company also touted its current approach to content moderation, suggesting it did a bang-up job during last year’s “unprecedented cycle of global elections.”