Google has made the decision to exit the Voluntary Code of the fight against misinformation in the European Union. In a letter from Kent Walker, the President of Global Affairs at Google, addressed to the European Commission representative Renate Nikolai, it was stated that Google will cease its participation in the initiative before it becomes part of the Mandatory Code of Conduct under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The Code was drafted prior to the enforcement of the DSA in 2022, and it proposed the voluntary incorporation of fact-checking into the Google search engine and YouTube platform. While not legally binding, many tech giants, such as Meta, Twitter (prior to Elon Musk’s acquisition), and Google, had previously signed on to this agreement. Nevertheless, an examination of the European fact-checking network’s standards revealed that several companies were failing to meet their obligations.
Meta had already announced its discontinuation of fact-checking, and now Google is following suit, asserting that the company had never actually implemented such mechanisms within its services. This move has garnered criticism as voluntary participation in the Code was viewed as a significant step in combating misinformation.
The situation is further complicated by the potential integration of certain aspects of the Code into the DSA, thereby rendering them obligatory. The response of major tech companies to these impending changes remains uncertain.