Macron pushes for tougher EU digital rule enforcement ahead of key elections

Published on 20/03/2026 - 14:39 GMT+1

French President Emmanuel Macron urged Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to measurement up enforcement of EU integer regulations to combat overseas predetermination interference up of cardinal elections successful 2026 and 2027, according to a missive dated March 16 and seen by Euronews.

The telephone comes arsenic concerns turn successful France astir imaginable predetermination meddling earlier adjacent year’s statesmanlike race. French information services person identified respective interference cases —including from Russia— during the ongoing municipal campaign, with the 2nd circular acceptable for Sunday.

“In a geopolitical discourse marked by a multiplication of hostile stances against the European exemplary and its antiauthoritarian values, it is important that the Union, and with it each Member State, hole to guarantee the integrity of civic sermon and electoral processes, the fairness of elections, and optimal extortion against interference operations and accusation manipulation,” Macron wrote.

Eleven EU countries caput to the polls successful 2026, with further cardinal elections successful 2027 successful France, Italy and Poland, wherever Eurosceptic parties are polling strongly.

Call for accelerated EU action

Macron urged von der Leyen to update guidelines primitively introduced up of the 2024 European elections, pressing platforms specified arsenic Meta’s Facebook and Instagram’s X and Tik Tok to fortify their efforts nether the EU’s landmark contented moderation framework, the Digital Services Act (DSA).

“It’s not astir overhauling the DSA, it’s astir ensuring it is afloat enforced regarding the obligations placed connected platforms—namely, assessing and mitigating systemic risks that could disrupt electoral processes,” a French authoritative said.

The missive specifically calls for curbing the virality driven by algorithms, labelling contented generated oregon modified by artificial intelligence, removing fake accounts and respecting transparency obligations for governmental advertizing included successful the DSA.

“The Commission indispensable beryllium able, connected the ground of reports it receives, to instrumentality each the measures allowed nether the Digital Services Act (DSA), from injunctions and safeguard measures to sanctions,” the aforesaid authoritative said.

Under the DSA, online platforms look fines of up to 6% of planetary yearly revenue.

Probes person already been opened these past years into suspected interference, including against Meta up of the 2024 European Parliament ballot and against TikTok implicit its handling of election-related risks during Romania’s November 2024 statesmanlike election.

In Romania, concerns implicit TikTok’s relation successful the first-round triumph of ultranationalist and pro-Russian Călin Georgescu led successful 2024 to the annulment of the ballot aft declassified quality documents indicated helium whitethorn person benefited from coordinated accounts and algorithmic amplification connected the platform.

According to Emmanuel Macron, Brussels and EU capitals indispensable beryllium “able to physique a genuine complementary onslaught force, susceptible of accelerated action,” to forestall specified overseas interferences.