The European Commission is still not satisfied with the measures implemented by the platforms to combat online disinformation. This is the message that Commissioners King, Avramapoulos and Gabriel defended when they presented their third follow-up report on the code of good practice on Wednesday 20 March.
“The Commission acknowledges the undeniable progress of online platforms in a number of areas. But we are still largely waiting for some others”, said Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society. The day before, she and her colleagues met with representatives of the platforms concerned to convey their message.
Progress in political advertising
In view of the extent of disinformation and the approach of the European elections, the European Commission has decided to assess on a monthly basis the progress made by Facebook, Google and Twitter in combating disinformation. This work is based on the code of good practice adopted by representatives of platforms, the advertising world and civil society in September 2018 (see EUROPE 12104/1).
This is the second evaluation report, this time covering the month of February (see EUROPE 12182/1, 12204/2). As a positive trend, it reports progress in political advertising: according to the Commission, all platforms have confirmed that their political advertising transparency tools will be operational before the European elections and have provided further details on these tools. In addition, all of them have provided additional information on other initiatives aimed at ensuring the integrity of the elections they are pursuing, some of which go beyond the specific commitments set out in the code of good practice.
But they can do better
However, the Commission considers that there is still considerable room for improvement. For example, it wants more systematic information on advertising placement (Twitter), bots or fake accounts (Google), measures that are not limited to certain Member States (Facebook) and better collaboration with experts.
“There is no reason why some Member States should be treated better than others”, Gabriel said, giving the example of Facebook's 'context button' to give Internet users more information about the author and publisher of an article. A button that is currently only available in six Member States (Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy). Mariya Gabriel also called on other platforms to join the initiative.
Despite this mixed record, the European Commission continues to trust the platforms and rely on self-regulation. She reminded the audience that she would like to take additional measures next fall. At a press conference, she also recalled that a series of initiatives had been launched to protect the electoral process and combat disinformation: the European Rapid Alert System (launched on 18 March), the Cooperation Group under the Network Security Directive (which has already published eight reports) and the Election Coordination Group (whose next meeting will be held in April - see EUROPE 12215/24).
The fight against disinformation should be discussed at the European Summit on 21 March. According to the draft conclusions, the June European Summit should also address this issue again on the basis of a report drafted by the EU Council Presidency in cooperation with the Commission and the External Action Service. The text of the report is available at: https://bit.ly/2FeT0tU. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)