EU coordinates fact-checkers to avoid another online Ceuta crisis

Published on

11/08/2026 - 17:11 GMT+2

TikTok and Meta have agreed to join a voluntary coordination mechanism chaired by the European Commission with fact-checkers, following the spread of disinformation online that fuelled the mass crossings in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, in which around 100 people died.

On Monday, Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission's Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, announced that TikTok and Meta had activated a crisis protocol to set up a cooperation mechanism with fact-checkers after tens of thousands of migrants illegally crossed the Spanish border.

"The EU Commission, Europol and platforms are exchanging daily and we have increased our coordination," Virkkunen wrote on X. "TikTok and Meta have activated crisis protocols and have now put in place an ad-hoc escalation and cooperation mechanism with fact-checkers."