The European Union will launch a new investigation into Meta

The European Union is preparing to launch a new investigation against Meta over its management of election-related content. According to The Guardian, details of the investigation will be announced later this week. According to information received, it is stated that European officials are concerned about “deceptive advertisements and political content”.

According to The Financial Times, the EU also expressed concerns about Russia's “efforts to undermine the upcoming European elections” and other foreign interference campaigns. Parliamentary elections will be held in the EU in June. If Meta is found to be in breach of the European Digital Services Act, there could be huge fines.

EU officials are also said to be “particularly concerned” about Meta’s plan to shut down CrowdTangle in August. CrowdTangle has been widely used for years by researchers and fact checkers to examine how content spreads on Facebook and Instagram. Dozens of researchers and fact-checking groups signed an open letter to the company last month, saying shutting down the tool before multiple global elections would be a “direct threat” to election integrity efforts around the world.

The statement sent by Meta to Engadget regarding the issue includes the following statements: “We have a well-established process to identify and mitigate risks on our platforms. “We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the European Commission and providing them with further details of this work.”

The European Union is conducting another investigation into Meta

The European Union is also investigating Meta over its ad-free subscription plan offered to European users. This investigation, which could last up to a year, will examine whether the social media company violated the European Digital Markets Act by not providing users with a “genuine alternative” to opt out of data collection.