Meta is studying how halting fact-checking on its platforms would fare under EU law, a French minister said Wednesday, although the change so far only affects the US.

Meta stunned the social media world Tuesday with its announcement that it would abandon professional fact checking in the US in favour of user-generated “Community Notes”, similar to those found on Elon Musk’s X platform.

The Facebook and Instagram parent company “assured us that they plan to respect our rules and that they are keeping in mind this impact study, which is underway,” junior minister for digital technologies Clara Chappaz told AFP.

The study would aim to “understand what the impact on users will be and to ensure that moderation remains at a high standard,” Chappaz added.

AFP currently works in 26 languages with Facebook’s fact checking programme, in which Facebook pays to use fact checks from around 80 organisations globally on its platform, WhatsApp and on Instagram.

The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) requires major platforms to carry out a risk analysis before launching any new service in Europe and take measures to alleviate them if necessary.

Meta “has not yet laid out their European timetable” for a similar change, Chappaz said.

But sources familiar with the case said the social media giant had already sent its risk analysis to DG Connect, the European commission’s tech and communications arm, following Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement.

Brussels has chided companies for failing to carry out such studies since the DSA came into force in 2023.

In April, the Commission warned TikTok to provide a risk analysis within 24 hours for a new rewards feature on its TikTok Lite application — later withdrawn completely from the EU.

Companies infringing on the rules risk fines of up to six percent of their annual revenue or even a total ban from the European market in case of serious, repeated violations.