EU asks Facebook, Twitter & others to take more steps to tackle fake news

The European Commission on Thursday asked tech giants like Google, Facebook, Twitter and other companies to try to be more effective in tackling disinformation. In 2018, all these companies including Mozilla and others agreed to a self-regulatory code of practice to counter fake news. Microsoft and TikTok subsequently joined the group.

'Platforms need to become more accountable'

According to a report by seen an international news agency, the Commission has found several shortcomings in the code following an assessment of its first year in operation. "These can be grouped in four broad categories: inconsistent and incomplete application of the code across platforms and member states, lack of uniform definitions, the existence of several gaps in the coverage of the code commitments, and limitations intrinsic to the self-regulatory nature of the code," the report said.

The Commission Vice President for values and transparency, Vera Jourova, has called for more action to counter new risks. "As we also witness new threats and actors the time is ripe to go further and propose new measures. The platforms need to become more accountable and transparent. They need to open up and provide better access to data, among others," the report quoted Jourova as saying.

Jourova is currently working on a European Democracy Action Plan to make democracy more resilient to digital threats. The commission is also set to propose new rules called the Digital Services Act by the end of the year which will increase social media's responsibilities and liability for content on their platforms. 

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In June, EU officials had said that Facebook, Google and Twitter should provide monthly reports on their fight against disinformation while calling out Russia and China for their roles in the spread of fake news. The comments by EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell and the European Commission's Vice President for values and transparency Vera Jourova underscored the bloc's concerns about the prevalence of misleading news on COVID-19 and the attempts by foreign actors to influence Europe.

"It really showed that disinformation does not only harm the health of our democracies, it also harms the health of our citizens. It can negatively impact the economy and undermine the response of the public authorities and therefore weaken the health measures," Jourova told a news conference.

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(With agency inputs)