Regulatory challenges & gaps in addressing systemic platform abuse

This report emerged from a year-long monitoring initiative, FIMI Defenders for Election Integrity, which tracked electoral processes across four countries and compiled twelve incident alerts documenting suspected foreign information manipulation and interference. EU DisinfoLab analyzed these alerts through the lens of the Digital Services Act, drawing on secondary material supplied by partner civil-society organizations rather than conducting independent legal assessment, and treats its conclusions as interpretative rather than definitive.

The analysis finds a persistent gap between the rules platforms claim to enforce and what actually happens during election periods, with manipulation tactics continuing largely unimpeded despite formally applicable DSA obligations. Rather than assigning legal liability, the report aims to connect civil-society monitoring with regulatory accountability, identifying what evidence is still missing to turn qualitative field observations into material usable in DSA infringement proceedings.

It concludes by calling for closer collaboration between researchers, platforms and policymakers, and offers recommendations for strengthening systemic-risk monitoring ahead of future election cycles across the EU.