Statement on Code of Practice against #Disinformation - Commission asks online platforms to provide more details on progress made

The European Commission has published reports by Facebook, Google and Twitter covering the progress made in January 2019 on their commitments to fight disinformation.

These three online platforms are signatories of the Code of Practice against disinformation and have been asked to report monthly on their actions ahead of the European Parliament elections in May 2019. More specifically, the Commission asked to receive detailed information to monitor progress on the scrutiny of ad placement, transparency of political advertising, closure of fake accounts and marking systems for automated bots.

Digital Single Market Vice President Andrus Ansip, Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Commissioner Věra Jourová, Security Union Commissioner Julian King and Digital Economy and Society Commissioner Mariya Gabriel said in a joint statement: "The online platforms, which signed the Code of Practice, are rolling out their policies in Europe to support the integrity of elections. This includes better scrutiny of advertisement placements, transparency tools for political advertising, and measures to identify and block inauthentic behaviour on their services. However, we need to see more progress on the commitments made by online platforms to fight disinformation. Platforms have not provided enough details showing that new policies and tools are being deployed in a timely manner and with sufficient resources across all EU member states. The reports provide too little information on the actual results of the measures already taken."

The full statement and more information on the online platforms' reports can be found here. A summary report on the implementation of the Code of Practice can be found here.

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