The European Commission continues to monitor the measures taken by online platforms to deal with the infodemic, the disinformation linked to the Covid-19 pandemic (see EUROPE 12455/19).
On Wednesday 7 October, the institution published eight new reports drawn up by the signatories to its Code of Practice on Disinformation.
An initial series of reports involving Facebook, Google, Microsoft, TikTok, Twitter and Mozilla were published at the beginning of September (see EUROPE 12557/26).
The reports published on Wednesday focus on the actions taken by Facebook, Google, Microsoft, TikTok and Twitter in recent months, mainly in August.
Three further reports, published by the World Federation of Advertisers, the European Association of Communications Agencies and the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe, all three of which are also signatories to the Code, provide an update on the advertising industry's actions in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Platforms. Firstly, the reports provided by the online platforms again highlight a range of data. For example, more than 14 million users in the EU visited Facebook and Instagram’s Covid-19 “Information Centres” in August, up from over 13 million the previous month.
Also in August, 4,000 tweets were withdrawn and 2.5 million accounts challenged under Twitter’s Covid-19 guidelines, according to the social network.
However, the Commission points to “substantial gaps” in these reports. It says that: “In some instances, data has been provided at global, rather than at EU or Member State level. In other instances, it is unclear whether the data provided relates to actions taken to address Covid-19 disinformation, or a broader range of objectives”.
Advertisers. The three reports from the trade and advertising associations set out the actions taken to improve the scrutiny of the placement of advertisements and to reduce the revenues of providers who are responsible for harmful content.
The reports also provide an overview of the impacts of the crisis on the advertising industry and set out the limits of some of the measures put in place.
According to the World Federation of Advertisers, “one of the biggest challenges” for advertisers in relation to brand safety is the absence of common standards for categorising and reporting harmful content by their advertising partners.
The reports for the platforms can be found at: https://bit.ly/2SCA5QR (Facebook), https://bit.ly/315Spqf (Google), https://bit.ly/30PIzZ9 (Microsoft), https://bit.ly/2IermSX (TikTok) and https://bit.ly/3jMxTSv (Twitter).
The reports for the advertising industry can be found at: https://bit.ly/34GcpR1 (World Federation of Advertisers), https://bit.ly/33IPIwa (the European Association of Communications Agencies) and https://bit.ly/2SIfSZT (the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe). (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)