"Social media is not ready for the 2024 election tsunami," the Global Coalition for Tech Justice said in a report released this month.

The researchers note that more than 50 major elections will take place around the world next year, in the United States, but also in India, Africa and the European Union.

"While corporations continue to count their profits, our democracies remain vulnerable to violent coup attempts, hate speech, and election interference," they write.

Between the unfavorable economic situation, marked by extraordinary inflation and social plans, and a hostile political climate, the American digital giants are showing a certain weariness at the idea of being the sheriffs of the Wild West of the internet.

In June, YouTube (Google) said it would stop removing content that falsely claims the 2020 U.S. presidential election was marred by "fraud, mistakes or glitches."

This announcement is a marked departure from the policy put in place in December 2020, which aimed to put an end to erroneous rumors that that year's election had been stolen from then-President Donald Trump.

In June, YouTube (Google) said it would stop removing content that falsely claims the 2020 US presidential election was marred by "fraud, mistakes or glitches" © Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP/Archives

YouTube justified its action by stating that the removal of these comments could have "the unintended consequence of restricting political speech".

'Significant decline'

Under the leadership of Elon Musk, X (ex-Twitter) has largely relaxed content moderation, despite the flight of advertisers.

The social network has especially let return many personalities previously banned for breaking the rules of the platform on disinformation and incitement to violence, including Donald Trump.

Last month, it also decided to allow paid political ads by U.S. candidates and political parties.

"Musk's control over Twitter, now X, has helped usher in a new era of recklessness on the part of the big tech platforms," said Nora Benavidez of the Free Press.

X (ex-Twitter) has largely relaxed content moderation, despite the flight of advertisers © Chris Delmas / AFP / Archives

"We are seeing a significant decline in the concrete measures that companies had put in place."

The companies are also under pressure from many American conservatives, who accuse them of colluding with the government to censor or remove right-wing content under the guise of fact-checking.

"They think that by continuing to appease the Republicans, they will stop causing them problems, while they only increase their vulnerability," said Berin Szóka, president of TechFreedom, a think tank.

For years, Facebook's algorithm has automatically relegated to the bottom of the page articles flagged as false or misleading by one of the platform's external fact-checking partners, including AFP.

But the social network has recently given US users more power over the algorithm, to choose what content they want to see first.

Hyperpolarization

"The platforms only began to take these (disinformation) risks seriously after the 2016 election," Yoel Roth, a former senior Twitter official, wrote in an op-ed published in US media last week.

"Today, faced with the prospect of disproportionate attacks on their employees, they seem increasingly reluctant to make controversial decisions, allowing misinformation and abuse to fester (...)."

The issue of content moderation has become a burning issue due to the hyperpolarization of politics in the United States.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily suspended an order limiting the government's ability to contact social media companies to remove content it considers misinformation.

In early September, the US Supreme Court temporarily suspended an order limiting the government's ability to contact social media companies to remove content it considers disinformation ©. Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Archives

A lower court issued the ruling, finding that U.S. officials had gone too far.

Disinformation researchers are not spared by the obsession of some personalities of the American right vis-à-vis content moderation.

Reputable institutions such as Stanford's Internet Observatory are facing a congressional investigation by Republicans as well as lawsuits from conservative activists who accuse them of promoting censorship, a charge they deny.

© 2023 AFP