Executive Vice-President Virkkunen, in a written answer on 3 July 2026, reaffirmed the European Commission's ongoing investigation into Meta's handling of political content on Facebook and Instagram, launched in April 2024, and stressed that free and fair elections are a core democratic priority. The response, addressing a question from The Left MEP Gaetano Pedulla', signals that the Commission is actively monitoring Meta's compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA) but offers no new concrete measures beyond existing probes and guidelines.
The question cited journalistic and academic reports alleging that Meta systematically penalised institutional messages while boosting right-wing and populist content during the 2022 and 2024 Italian elections, with Lega Nord posts increasing by 140% and pro-Trump content surging 400%. Pedulla' also raised concerns from the Italian Data Protection Authority about Meta's 'Election Day Information' tool being used for mass profiling, potentially distorting public debate. Virkkunen's answer, however, does not address these specific allegations directly, instead pointing to the general DSA framework and the April 2024 investigation into whether Meta failed to identify and assess systemic risks to civic discourse and electoral processes under Article 34(1)(c).
The Commission has sent several requests for information on recommender systems and issued guidelines for very large online platforms on managing electoral risks. Virkkunen also noted that the Political Advertising Regulation may apply in parallel. The answer remains largely declarative, reiterating existing commitments without announcing new audits, deadlines, or enforcement actions. Institutional follow-up is expected to proceed through the ongoing investigation, which the Commission says it will advance in full respect of due process, but no timeline for conclusions or potential sanctions was provided.