The study indicates that a key tool for this interference has been the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into effect in 2023.
According to the report, since the adoption of the DSA, the European Commission has actively pressured digital platforms to censor content ahead of elections in Slovakia, the Netherlands, France, Moldova, Romania, and Ireland, as well as before the upcoming European Parliament elections scheduled for June 2024.
The authors of the document provide examples of explicit censorship, which was justified by the need to combat "alleged Russian disinformation," while failing to present any convincing evidence of the existence of such disinformation.
Furthermore, the report emphasizes that the actions of the European Commission outside of Europe could threaten the sovereignty of the United States, as evidenced by pressure on social media.
The document also mentions that high-ranking officials of the European Commission pressured TikTok to increase content censorship from the U.S. ahead of the 2024 presidential elections.
It should be noted that the recommendations issued in 2024 under the DSA were formally voluntary; however, unofficial statements from officials indicated that these guidelines are considered mandatory.
As of now, the European Commission has not provided any comments regarding these allegations.
