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Google has allegedly said the EU will not add fact-checking to search results or YouTube videos, nor will it use fact-checking to influence rankings or remove content.
This decision defies new EU rules aimed at combating disinformation.
In a letter to Renata Nikolay of the European Commission, Google’s president of global affairs, Kent Walker, said fact-checking was “not appropriate or effective” for Google’s services.
Updated EU Disinformation Code, part Law on Digital Services (DSA), would require platforms to include fact-checking with search results and YouTube videos and to include them in their ranking systems.
Walker argued that Google’s current moderation tools – such as SynthID watermarking and AI detection on YouTube – are already effective.
He pointed to last year’s election as evidence that Google can manage misinformation without fact-checking.
Google has also confirmed that it plans to fully withdraw all fact-checking obligations in the EU’s voluntary Disinformation Code before becoming bound by the DSA.
This rejection by Google comes ahead of several key European elections, including:
This election is likely to test how well tech platforms deal with disinformation without stricter rules.
Google’s decision follows a larger industry trend.
Last week, Meta announced that it would end its fact-checking program on Facebook, Instagram and Threads and switch to a crowdsourced model like X’s (formerly Twitter) Community Notes.
Elon Musk has drastically reduced moderation on X since he bought the platform in 2022.
As platforms like Google and Meta move away from active fact-checking, there are growing concerns about how misinformation will spread – especially during elections.
While tech companies say transparency tools and user-driven features are enough, critics say they don’t do enough to combat misinformation.
Google’s refusal signals a widening gap between regulators and platforms over how to manage harmful content.
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