(Reuters) -Social media platforms such as Elon Musk’s X and ByteDance’s TikTok will be subject to EU fines for lax moderation within weeks, as Brussels rolls out its first binding regime to fight election disinformation, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
The guidelines, designed to counter online threats to the integrity of elections, are to be adopted by the European Commission as soon as next week, the FT reported, citing people familiar with the plans.
Under the requirements, which will end years of self-regulation for the industry, platforms that fail to adequately tackle artificial intelligence-powered disinformation or deepfakes could face fines of up to 6% of global turnover, according to the report.
With European elections to be held in June, senior EU officials have been particularly concerned over potentially destabilizing attacks from Russian agents, the FT reported.
During election periods, social media platforms and search engines would be expected to set up dedicated teams to scrutinize the risks of online disinformation in 23 different languages across the bloc, according to the FT.
They will need to show they are working closely with cyber security agents across the EU’s 27 member states, according to the report.
The European Commission did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
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