Social platforms commit to stricter content moderation in the EU while scaling back efforts in the US

The news: Meta, Google, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, X, LinkedIn, and others pledged to improve their platforms’ content moderation efforts in the EU.

The companies signed a revised code to the European Commission’s Digital Services Act (DSA). The code mandates that platforms be transparent around how hate speech is detected, allow third-party monitoring, and review at least two-thirds of all hate speech notices within 24 hours.

What are the stakes? The revised DSA code’s voluntary nature could make it harder for real change to be enforced.

• There are no penalties for non-compliance.
• If platform owners decide the regulator is asking for too much, they could just back out of the agreement—as X did in 2022.

If companies don’t take meaningful action against illegal hate speech, we could see a shift toward more binding regulatory acts.

Across the pond: Major platforms are navigating very different regulatory approaches in the EU and the US, as seen with Meta's move to roll back domestic content moderation.

• The company is phasing out its fact-checking program for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads in favor of a community notes program similar to X’s.
• Meta is also getting rid of many restrictions on topics like immigration and gender. It now allows “allegations of mental illness” based on gender or sexual orientation.

Meta is trying to satisfy two very different regulatory environments, and while these US moves could frustrate users, it marks the company’s efforts to align itself with a new political landscape.

Crackdown on X: X also faces a probe from an EU regulator into its algorithm after politicians complained that X promotes far-right content. Brussels wants X to hand over internal documents on its algorithm and how it moderates content.

X’s brand safety has gone downhill in recent years, partially due to a rise in misinformation, increasingly partisan content, and loss of trust in the platform’s moderation efforts.

• Twenty-six percent of marketers plan to cut back ad spending on X this year, per Kantar.
• Only 4% currently believe that the platform provides a safe environment for their ads.

Our take: The EU’s voluntary code risks tech giants undermining real change by adopting a “check-the-box” approach to content moderation, and inconsistent rules in different countries could make platform experiences unpredictable for users and marketers.

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