Google rejects EU fact-checking commitments for Search and YouTube

Google has informed the European Union that it will not integrate the work of fact-checking organizations into Search or YouTube, ahead of the bloc’s plans to expand disinformation laws. Google has previously signed up to a series of voluntary commitments introduced by the EU in 2022 to reduce the impact of online disinformation, which are in the process of being formalized into law under the Digital Services Act (DSA).

In a letter to Renate Nikolay, European Commission’s content and technology czar AxiosKent Walker, Google’s president of global operations, asserted that Google would not follow fact-checking requirements “because they are simply not appropriate or effective for our services.” According to Walker, Google will also “rescind all fact-checking commitments in the DSA Code of Conduct” before its rules become law.

The EU’s current Disinformation Code of Practice commits signatories to cooperating with fact-checking agencies in all EU countries, making their work available to speakers of all EU languages, and cutting financial incentives for spreading disinformation on platforms. The code also forces companies to label political ads and analyze fake accounts, bots, and malicious deepfakes that spread disinformation, while making it easier for users to recognize, understand, and report disinformation.

Fact checking is not currently part of Google’s content moderation practices. “Search and YouTube will endeavor to reach agreements with fact-checkers consistent with this action, but the services do not have complete control over this process,” the company said of some of the contract’s regulatory requirements.

It is unclear whether all of the Code’s requirements will be formalized into formal rules under the DSA. EU lawmakers have been discussing with signatories what commitments they will agree to follow. The commission said last November that it expected the rule to take effect in January 2025 “at the earliest,” but did not announce when it would formally become law.