Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, on behalf of the European Commission, defended the activation of the Rapid Response System (RRS) for the Hungarian election, emphasising that the system is a cooperation framework among signatories of the Code of Conduct on Disinformation, not a Commission-run mechanism. In a written answer to a parliamentary question from MEPs Csaba Dömötör, Tamás Deutsch, and Kinga Gál (all PfE), Virkkunen clarified that the Commission merely facilitates the framework, while content moderation decisions lie exclusively with the platforms.
The question, submitted on 19 March 2026, asked which organisations participate in the RRS for the Hungarian elections and whether lists of flagged content would be published. Virkkunen's answer, dated 29 April 2026, revealed that the participants were Democracy Reporting International, Alliance4Europe, CEE Digital Democracy Watch, and the Hungarian EDMO hub (HDMO). She stated that the signatories report on their activities in periodic reports available through the Transparency Centre of the Code, but did not commit to publishing specific lists of flagged content.
Policy orientation and ambition
The answer signals a clear policy orientation: the Commission positions itself as a facilitator of voluntary industry self-regulation rather than a direct regulator of election-related content. The RRS is presented as a tool for independent fact-checkers and civil society to flag content, with platforms retaining full discretion over moderation. This approach balances the goal of protecting electoral integrity with the principle of platform autonomy, but offers limited transparency on specific flagged content.
Expected institutional follow-up
The Commission is expected to continue relying on the Code of Conduct on Disinformation and periodic reporting by signatories. No new legislative or regulatory measures were announced. The answer suggests that future RRS activations for other EU elections will follow the same model, with local signatories and EDMO hubs participating on a case-by-case basis.