European Culture Ministers support the fight against fake news. However, they remain divided on how to proceed, with France and Spain calling for regulatory intervention and other Member States wanting self-regulation. This is what emerged from the round table discussion they had at the Council meeting on Tuesday 27 November in Brussels.
It was primarily the Baltic countries who sounded the alarm, mainly because of their proximity to Russia. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, joined by Poland, accused the authorities in Russia of spreading false information in their territory. Several delegations called for the strengthening of the East StratCom Task Force, currently composed of 14 full-time experts.
During the discussion, many Member States praised the code of good practice which was proposed by the Commission and adopted by the platforms (see EUROPE 12104). They also welcomed the forthcoming presentation in December of the action plan on misinformation, which will focus on the external dimension of this practice (see EUROPE 12118). Concrete ideas were also discussed: Latvia suggested setting up a Council working group on misinformation, Greece called for the creation of an online media register, while France noted that state aid rules should not prevent support for the press.
European content online: conclusions
This meeting of Culture Ministers also led to the adoption of conclusions on strengthening European content in the digital economy. This 12-page text is structured around 4 chapters: encouraging diversity, creating a level playing field, building trust and improving skills. “The main objective is to ensure that more consumers in the digital space use European products. Indeed, if the situation continues, we will have less and less European identity and less and less pluralism", explained the Austrian Minister for the EU, Art, Culture and Media, Gernot Blümel. He welcomed the fact that the conclusions address the issue of platform liability, even going so far as to ensure - depending on interpretation - that the e-Commerce Directive should be reviewed, as it is no longer suited to the current digital environment.
On closer examination, the conclusions invite the Commission to "continue reflecting with Member States to ensure legal certainty concerning the activities of online platforms in the ecosystem for digital media and cultural and creative content, inter alia, in view of the e-Commerce Directive". The reopening of the e-Commerce Directive, which deals with platform liability, is worrying European stakeholders, who fear that it will be like opening Pandora's box. The ministers' conclusions can be found here: https://bit.ly/2DZZYVd. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)