As false information spreads about the COVID-19 outbreak, European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová met with representatives from online platforms that are signatories of the EU Code of Practice on Disinformation on Tuesday, 3 March (see EUROPE 12104/1).
The commissioner wished to better understand the extent of the disinformation surrounding this health crisis—which the WHO has described as an “infodemic”—and to assess whether there is a need to take action at this level as well.
“All participants confirmed that they had discovered various types of disinformation or false information online and have taken a series of measures to deal with them”, Ms Jourová said in a statement, calling on the platforms to apply the same tools in all Member States.
“I’m pleased with the measures taken by the code signatories, which are twofold. First, to promote authoritative sources and, second, to downgrade and remove prohibited or harmful content or protect consumers from misleading or abusive advertising”, declared the commissioner.
She called on platforms that are not code signatories to deploy the necessary tools to solve the problem and invited signatories to meet again in a month to continue this discussion. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)