EU plans to let Frontex monitor social media and flag posts for removal

The European Commission wants Frontex, the EU’s border agency, to monitor public social media posts about migration. It would also flag illegal content to platforms. MEPs and digital rights groups say the plan puts online speech under a border agency’s watch.

The Commission proposed the change on Tuesday as part of a wider overhaul of Frontex. EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen told reporters that Frontex would get an online monitoring and response centre for public social media content, Eliza Gkritsi reported for Politico Europe.

The centre would watch for news relevant to border management. It would also support action against illegal content linked to border security risks.

A fast track for removals

Frontex would also act as a trusted flagger under the Digital Services Act, the Commission said in its press material. Platforms must deal quickly with content reported by a trusted flagger. National regulators grant the status after checking an applicant’s expertise and independence.

Virkkunen later clarified that Frontex would have to apply. She said she expected regulators to approve it because of its “special expertise”. The agency could also ask national authorities to issue removal orders.

The rest of the overhaul is about deportations. Frontex’s standing corps would grow to 30,000 officers. The agency would also support returns from one non-EU country to another, The Brussels Times reported. The Commission also wants to double Frontex’s budget over the next seven years, according to Politico.

In July, thousands of migrants crossed into Ceuta, the Spanish exclave, within a few hours. Social media played a central role in that crisis, Politico reported.

‘Placing online speech under watch’

Italian social democrat MEP Brando Benifei told Politico it was legitimate to remove online adverts for people smuggling.

“But a broad social media surveillance mandate goes much further, placing online speech under a border agency’s watch,” he said.

A 2019 tender with similar monitoring powers was revoked after privacy criticism. Benifei said the Commission now proposes “copying ICE’s invasive online tracking”, a reference to the US immigration agency. That agency’s staff details surfaced this week in a Homeland Security leak.

“The DSA’s trusted flagger program was never conceived for police forces to circumvent due process when assessing the legality of people’s online expression,” said Jan Penfrat of the digital rights group EDRi, according to Politico.

The criticism crosses party lines. Polish right-wing MEP Piotr Müller told Politico the mandate must target smugglers, not opinions about migration. Fabrice Leggeri, a former Frontex director now sitting for France’s far-right National Rally, called it an attempt at censorship.

Supporters want detail

Irish centre-right MEP Regina Doherty told Politico that border authorities need tools against smugglers. Some use social media to promote dangerous crossings, she said. She said the priority is a clear legal framework. German centre-right MEP Andreas Schwab said the EU should use the DSA rather than add new tools.

Commission spokesperson Guillaume Mercier told Politico that any monitoring would stay limited to border and migration management. The DSA already lets regulators fine platforms that fail to act on illegal content.

The proposal now goes to the European Parliament and EU governments in the Council for negotiation. It adds to a long-running EU tension between safety and privacy laws.