The pushback comes as the emboldened leaders of US tech companies, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, have been courting President-elect Donald Trump, with Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg urging him directly to combat EU regulatory enforcement.

After Mark Zuckerberg's big announcement that Meta will no longer fact check, Google is also sending a message to the European Union: The search giant is opting out of a new EU law that requires fact checks.

Google rejects EU's fact-checking requirements for search and YouTube, defying new disinformation rules. Google has reportedly told the EU it won’t add fact-checking to search results or YouTube videos, nor will it use fact-checks to influence rankings or remove content. This decision defies new EU rules aimed at tackling disinformation.

Google has told the EU it will not comply with a forthcoming fact-checking law, according to a copy of a letter obtained by Axios. The company states that it will not be adding fact checks to search results or YouTube videos and will not use fact-checking data when ranking or removing content.

Google will not be adding fact checks to its search results or YouTube videos in Europe — a decision that flouts an EU law that requires tech giants to use fact checkers. Kent Walker, Google's global affairs president,

Google has told the EU it will not add fact checks to search results and YouTube videos or use them in ranking or removing content, despite the requirements of a new EU law, according to a copy of a letter obtained by Axios.