Europe's media urges EU to crack down on online disinformation

BRUSSELS • Broadcasters, publishers and journalists yesterday called on the European Commission (EC), the European Union's executive body, to implement "much stronger measures" to combat disinformation on Internet platforms such as Google and Facebook.

The joint declaration - signed notably by the European Federation of Journalists, the European Publishers Council and the Association of Commercial Television in Europe - follows a presentation last Wednesday by Brussels of new steps against disinformation, triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The signatories said they are "alarmed by the rise in online disinformation during the pandemic", which has had "a devastating impact on public health efforts".

They said the European "code of good practice", signed in 2018 by Internet platforms, "has shown to be inadequate to address the source and drivers of disinformation propagated online".

"There is an urgent need for effective instruments to better assess and successfully tackle the issue," they wrote, adding that Europe is over-reliant on the "goodwill of systemic actors".

Among the measures urged is a "meaningful" sanctions regime to ensure that the co-signatories of the code of practice have an incentive to act.

These measures should be applied in a way that "boosts rather than penalises media" and should ensure that "journalistic freedom, fundamental rights and editorial freedom are guaranteed".

Finally, they asked that the dialogue with the online platforms be carried out in a more "structured" way, while "a certain number of commissioners" deal directly with platforms.

The EU last week called on the Internet giants to do more to fight the "huge wave of disinformation" caused by the pandemic, by publishing a monthly report on the actions implemented.

Ms Vera Jourova, vice-president of the EC commission in charge of values and transparency, said the reports would have to relate to the nature of the disinformation, the dimension of the network involved, its geopolitical origin and the target audience.

The approach is based on the goodwill of platforms, but she said it was in their interest to gain the "confidence" of their users.

The pandemic has already led the EU to ask platforms to put forward information from health authorities like the World Health Organisation, and to withdraw advertisements for fake medicines in particular.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 16, 2020, with the headline Europe's media urges EU to crack down on online disinformation. Subscribe