Frontex gets power to track migration talk on social media

The EU's border agency, Frontex, will be able to monitor social media for information about migration flows.

The European Commission on Tuesday unveiled a revamp of Frontex, strengthening its capabilities and capacity to tackle illegal migration. It will play a more prominent role in deporting people with no legal right to remain in the EU, including new powers to carry out return operations beyond the bloc’s territory and new oversight on social media.

The role of social media platforms in spreading information that contributes to illegal migration was central to the crisis in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, where thousands of migrants illegally crossed the border within a few hours in July.

The new rules will create within Frontex "an online monitoring and response center to monitor publicly accessible social media content to detect developments relevant to external border management, and also to support action against illegal online content linked to border security risks," EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen told reporters on Tuesday.

The agency will also "be acting as a trusted flagger under the Digital Services Act, flagging illegal content to online platforms, and requesting national authorities to issue removal orders where appropriate," the Commission said in press material.

Being a "trusted flagger" under the DSA, the EU's landmark social media rules, is a special status granted by national digital regulators. Content flagged by entities with this status is put on a fast track to be dealt with by online platforms.

Virkkunen said Frontex will apply for this status with national authorities, and she expected the border agency to be approved because of its "special expertise."