Google announced that it will not comply with the European Union’s (EU) fact-checking law that will come into effect soon. The company stated that it will not add fact checks to search results or YouTube videos and will not use this data to rank or remove content.
Google’s Head of Global Affairs, Kent Walker, said in a letter to the European Commission that fact-checking integration was “not appropriate or effective” for the company’s services. Instead, the company argued that the methods it currently implemented for content moderation were sufficient. Walker highlighted Google’s success with content moderation during last year’s “unprecedented global election cycle.”
This new fact-check requirement, made mandatory by the EU, was initiated within the framework of the European Commission’s “Code of Practice against Misinformation”. These rules, which were initially presented as voluntary standards, will now become binding for technology companies.
Google had previously invested in a fact-checking database ahead of elections in Europe, but the initiative was not central to the platform’s content moderation policies. The company highlighted its context notes program, a feature added to YouTube last year. This feature allows certain users to provide additional information to videos and is similar to X’s (formerly Twitter) Community Notes program. This program “has significant potential,” Walker said.
Google will continue its investments in content moderation
In addition, Google stated that it will continue to invest in new technologies for content moderation. The company cited its watermark technology called Synth ID and artificial intelligence explanations on YouTube as examples of these efforts.
Google’s decision comes just after Meta ended its fact-checking program in the United States. On the other hand, X has also reduced its professional fact-checking teams. The distant approach of major technology companies to fact-checking practices raises the question of what attitude they will take towards the EU’s upcoming regulations. It remains unclear how the EU will respond to Google’s decision.
While the European Union’s fact-checking law opens the doors of a new era for technology companies, it seems that the applicability and impact of these rules will be carefully monitored.