Google has informed the European Union that it will not comply with the upcoming fact-checking law, according to a report by A A copy of the letter he received Axios. The company states that it will not add fact checks to search results or YouTube videos and will not use fact-check data when rating or removing content.
It’s important to note that Google has never engaged in fact checking as part of its content moderation policies. But the company did Invest in a European fact-checking database Ahead of the recent European Union elections.
The upcoming fact-checking requirement was originally implemented by the new European Commission Code of practice on misinformation. It started as a voluntary set of “self-regulatory standards to combat disinformation” but will soon become mandatory.
Kent Walker, Google’s head of global affairs, said fact-checking integration “simply is not 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 great job during last year’s “unprecedented cycle of global elections.”
Google also points to a new feature added to YouTube last year that enables some users to add contextual notes to videos, saying it “has great potential.” This program is similar to X’s Community Notes program, and will likely be anything new that Meta makes.
Walker went on to say that Google will continue to invest in it Current content moderation techniquessuch as Synth ID watermarks and AI disclosures on YouTube. We have no idea what the European Union will do in response to Google once its digital fact-checking practices become law.
This happens right after Meta announced it was ending its fact-checking program in the US, so who knows if Mark Zuckerberg will abide by EU laws. X has shrunk his size Professional fact-checkers for a while. Big Tech certainly has a big problem with facts.