How Has the DSA Performed in Protecting Election Integrity?

The EU’s Digital Services Act is intended to protect the integrity of electoral processes and civic discourse on large online platforms. A look back at three recent national elections in Romania, Germany and Poland offers a sobering picture. While civil society organisations and media observed apparent failures by platforms to detect covert influence operations or correctly identify political advertising, it remains unclear whether that means platforms are not doing enough to protect election integrity. In addition, three risks might be underappreciated: political advertising, influencers and asymmetric amplification of political candidates.