• This Monday, Arcom published its third assessment “Online platforms and the fight against the manipulation of information”.

  • Since the 2018 law relating to this subject, the audiovisual watchdog has noted an improvement in platforms in terms of transparency, encouraged by the new European framework of the DSA (Digital Services Act).

  • However, platforms are still lagging behind, in particular the Chinese application TikTok.

It's getting better, but it's still not perfect.

Here is the assessment of the third report of Arcom (Audiovisual and digital communication regulatory authority), published on Monday.

“In three years, we have made quite incredible progress and a dynamic is truly being created,” rejoices Benoît Loutrel, member of Arcom and chairman of the “Online platform supervision” working group.

Since the law of December 22, 2018 on the fight against the manipulation of information, online platforms must indeed cooperate with Arcom by making available the means made available to users in terms of transparency.

The goal ?

Create trust in the public space and fight against abusive behavior related to digital, for example foreign interference or behavior leading to cyberbullying.

Still a little effort to make

This new report comes in a pivotal year when the DSA (Digital Services Act) has just been voted on at European level.

“With its “hard” obligations and their corollary, a power of sanction, this ambitious and innovative text is intended to better respond to the risks raised by online platforms”, notes Arcom.

For Benoît Loutrel, there is a real change of scale: there is no longer a single regulator in each country, but a multitude of police officers working together at European level.

“The DSA was built on the French and German experience, recalls Benoît Loutrel.

There is a real ambition in this European text.

We have developed the tools to go further, but we also see limits”.

Indeed, this ambition is now played out at several speeds.

“We still have to require platforms to provide information that they are obviously not ready to provide today,” regrets Benoît Loutrel.

"Repeated shortcomings", according to the regulator's report, which questions "the will and the ability" of the platforms to evaluate their policies in the fight against the manipulation of information.

TikTok, new kid and dunce cap

This is for example the case of TikTok which for the first time had to report to Arcom.

Questioned about the link made between the fight against manipulation and respect for freedom of expression, the Chinese application remains vague.

"TikTok provides very little information, indicating only to seek 'a fair balance to limit the dissemination of misleading information'", notes the Arcom report.

Several elements challenge the regulator: "an accessible but not very visible reporting system", "a lack of information about the algorithm evaluation processes".

Benoît Loutrel is aware of this, TikTok still has work to do to get back to the levels of other platforms.

“A platform cannot have such dazzling success and not be so dazzling in the means put in place in moderation”.

A troubled economy

This report also comes at a more than economically difficult period for online platforms.

“Recent news is also marked by the announcement of the takeover of Twitter at the end of October 2022, followed by a very strong reduction (nearly half of the number of employees. […] At the beginning of November, Meta also announced a re-education of nearly 13% of the number of employees and a freeze on recruitment until the end of March 2023”, underlines the report.

Are consequences to come on the commitment of platforms in terms of manipulation of information?

We have to wait, responds the Arcom.

“There is an economic downturn, but the good news is that the European instrument [the DSA] is coming at the same time.

We are not taken aback,” maintains Benoît Loutrel.

“We are better equipped”

Except that for a few years, online platforms, in particular Meta, had put in place better means to fight against disinformation, with tools for collaborating with

fact-checking

bodies .

But the economic situation raises fears of a net stop to these activities.

“A company has the right to close a service.

There is a principle of entrepreneurial freedom that exists.

On the other hand, under the DSA, online platforms made voluntary commitments in June 2022, which may become mandatory”, specifies Benoît Loutrel.

Faced with the remaining uncertainties, can we be so optimistic?

Admittedly, the means of control still need to be sustained over time and the platforms are a long way from the growth period of the past.

But European law now exists and protects, according to Benoît Loutrel.

“We are lucid, we are not satisfied.

But we now have an ambitious policy that must be built in stages.

We feel that we are moving in the right direction and that we are better equipped”, concludes the member of Arcom.

Media

TF1 seizes Arcom after Cyril Hanouna's criticism of "Le Late with Alain Chabat"

high tech

Arcom challenges Twitter and expresses its "deep concern" about fake news and online hate

  • By the Web

  • Digital

  • Platform

  • Social networks

  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • TikTok