mercredi 4 février 2026

L'ECLAIREUR - US Report Blasts EU Elections Interference - Mercredi 4 février 2026

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US Report Blasts EU Elections Interference

The EU Commission’s exposed: thousands of documents show election interference in at least eight member states, including France.

Patricia Cerinsek

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Censorship on social media—where public discourse is voiced and, increasingly, where political debates take place—has long lacked concrete, indisputable proof in Europe. We know that platform moderation— a form of censorship carried out for reasons ranging from protecting minors and combating “hate” to thwarting foreign influence—is often shaped by pressure from Brussels and its regulatory agenda, culminating in the Digital Services Act (DSA).

A new report from the U.S. House Judiciary Committee (one of the U.S. Congress’s most powerful standing committees) pulls back the curtain on the European Commission’s role. Not only in terms of free speech in the strict sense—Americans and Europeans do not share the same definition—but because, based on thousands of internal documents obtained via subpoena showing countless communications between the EU and the platforms, Brussels’ interference and its indirect meddling in the electoral processes of member states (non-members) is unmistakable. It also stands in stark contrast to the accusations levelled at Russia in Moldova and Romania.

It is worth noting that the report’s planned publication coincided with the highly publicised raid on X France’s offices. All of this happened on the same day.

L'Eclaireur In English

[ Flash ] Raided X

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Feb 3

The Paris prosecutor’s office presses ahead with a case against X it knows full well is doomed.

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Until recently, concrete proof of such influence—or outright meddling—remained elusive. Users frequently complained of shadowbanning, where posts, tweets, and other content saw their visibility slashed without warning. Accounts faced sudden suspensions or outright deletions, yet neither the affected creators nor the platforms themselves provided clear explanations.

In principle, the European Commission’s Transparency Register was meant to serve as an open ledger of all moderation decisions. In reality, it fell far short of delivering meaningful insight: it rarely disclosed what had been flagged, demoted, hidden, or erased—and almost never explained the reasoning behind those choices. We reached out directly to X (formerly Twitter), Meta, Google, TikTok, and LinkedIn, asking for specifics on how many moderation actions they had taken under the banner of “misinformation.” To no avail.

This latest report changes the picture dramatically. It casts an unflinching spotlight on now-documented realities. It reveals how moderation policies—enforced under persistent pressure from the European Commission, an institution lacking explicit authority in this domain—are tightening with particular intensity around sensitive moments: elections. Across Europe, and especially in France and Germany where crucial votes loom in the coming months, the pattern is unmistakable. The scrutiny falls heaviest on parties that challenge the vision of a more integrated, even federalized Europe—most notably France’s Rassemblement National (RN) and Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)—as well as on the platforms themselves that host their voices. What was once shadowy and deniable is now laid bare, raising urgent questions about the balance between curbing disinformation and preserving open political debate.

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