EU rights watchdog reveals 'significant gaps' in oversight of major tech platforms

BRUSSELS (CN) — While online threats to democracy multiply, several European Union countries are struggling to dedicate enough resources to regulate major technology platforms, leaving “significant gaps in oversight," officials said in a basic rights and freedom report released this week.

“Fundamental rights in Europe are facing growing and serious challenges,” said Sirpa Rautio, director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. “Geopolitical tensions, rising intolerance and threats to election integrity are testing the resilience of our democratic institutions.”

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights’ annual report released Tuesday found that enforcement of new digital regulations remains inconsistent across member states, even as disinformation campaigns and AI-generated content increasingly undermine elections and fuel discrimination.

The agency highlighted the Digital Services Act and newly implemented AI Act as crucial tools for combating online threats but warned that the lack of adequate regulatory resources has created dangerous blind spots in platform oversight.

The EU’s Digital Services Act, which took full effect in February 2024, imposes strict obligations on online platforms to curb illegal content, improve transparency and protect users’ rights, with tougher rules for tech giants like Google and TikTok enforced since August 2023.

The EU’s new AI Act, adopted in 2024 and set to take effect gradually from mid-2025 until August 2026, imposes strict rules on high-risk AI systems while banning practices like social scoring and predictive policing, making it one of the world’s first comprehensive AI regulations. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, one of five permanent members of the AI Act’s advisory forum, is developing further guidance on high-risk AI applications, with findings due later in 2025.

Rising disinformation and extremism threaten EU stability

Officials documented in the report how disinformation campaigns, AI-generated deepfakes and threatening rhetoric undermined elections in multiple EU member states during 2024.

According to the European Digital Media Observatory, quoted in the report, EU-related disinformation tripled between January and May, with narratives promoting Western decline and anti-EU sentiment gaining traction, particularly on TikTok during elections in countries like the Czech Republic and Sweden. These included false claims ranging from fictitious EU bans to fabricated policy proposals. AI-generated images and deepfake videos targeting candidates appeared in countries like France and Croatia.

Despite national authorities in countries like Estonia and the Netherlands downplaying the impact, officials conclude that measures to counter digital interference, including AI misuse, remained inadequate across most EU member states.

Online platforms have become “breeding grounds for extremist rhetoric,” the agencies found, with Muslims, Jews, Black people and LGBTIQ individuals facing escalating discrimination. The war in Gaza is prompting both rising antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred in the EU, they wrote. The data, released in an earlier report last year, showed 47% of Muslims experience racial discrimination, while 37% of Jews report being harassed because of their religion.

One in three women in EU experiences gender-based violence, with online harassment and threats through digital platforms reaching unprecedented rates, according to the findings.

Enforcement slow, deregulation risks highlighted

The European Commission has signaled it may pursue infringement proceedings against member states that fail to fully implement new digital regulations, though enforcement actions have been slow to materialize.

Rautio warned that the often-cited idea of cutting red tape carries risks. “Calls for simplification and deregulation risk undermining the vital safeguards that protect people’s rights,” she said.

The report’s release coincides with growing concerns about the integrity of upcoming elections in several member states, where far-right parties have gained ground partly through sophisticated online campaigns that often skirt existing regulations. The Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Ireland are set to cast ballots during the remainder of 2025.

Debate intensifies on digital rights and protecting children

Meanwhile, discussions are intensifying this week around digital rights and child protection online, spurred by France’s proposal Wednesday to introduce an EU-wide ban on social media use for children under 15. The proposal has sparked debate over balancing child safety with young people’s rights to freedom of expression and privacy.

In conversation with Courthouse News, Jan Penfrat, Senior Policy Advisor at European Digital Rights (EDRi), cautioned against broad age-gating measures. “Age-gating any significant part of the internet is a major restriction of young people’s freedom of expression and access to information rights and carries substantial risks to everyone’s right to privacy,” Penfrat said.

He added that “so far we have not seen a single privacy-preserving implementation of an age verification system or app that protects people against online surveillance and the creation of vast new databases of highly sensitive personal data.”

Penfrat also criticized the effectiveness of age verification mandates, noting they can be easily circumvented with VPNs and are not necessary, given other less intrusive ways to protect minors online. He urged that the current debate should not overshadow other impactful measures platforms can adopt—such as safer interface design, less toxic recommendation algorithms, improved content moderation, and better tools for parents and guardians to engage with children about their online experience.

“Many of those measures would also make online platforms a better place for everybody, not only minors,” he concluded.

The European Commission unveiled plans Wednesday for a unified age verification system across the 27-nation bloc, with a pilot program set to launch by July 2025. According to the EU’s executive branch, the age verification tool is the bloc’s preferred approach to protecting minors online rather than outright access restrictions.