This week, the Commission and the High Representative will present an assessment of the measures they have taken to combat disinformation about the corona pandemic, and propose further steps.
In March 2020, European leaders had called for resolute action to combat disinformation and strengthen the resilience of European societies. The corona pandemic is accompanied by a tidal wave of inaccurate or misleading information. Among other things, foreign actors made attempts to influence EU citizens and debates. The joint communication analyzes the immediate response and proposes concrete measures that can be implemented quickly.
High Representative and Vice President Josep Borrell said, "In times of the coronavirus, disinformation can cost lives. We have a duty to protect our citizens by making them aware of misinformation and denouncing the actors responsible for such practices. In today's world, technology plays a major role: battles are no longer fought with swords, but with words, and both state and non-state actors make eager use of targeted influence and disinformation campaigns. The European Union will therefore increase its activities and enhance its capabilities."
Vice President for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová: "During the corona pandemic, Europe was hit by a tidal wave of disinformation. It came from inside and outside the EU. All players, from online platforms to governments, must play their part in the fight against disinformation. Furthermore, we need to support independent fact checkers and media. While online platforms have made positive steps during the pandemic, they need to step up their efforts. At the heart of our actions are fundamental rights, especially freedom of expression and information."
The crisis has shown how the EU and its democratic societies address the problem of disinformation. The following aspects are critical for a stronger and more resilient EU:
Understanding: First, it is important to distinguish between illegal content and content that is harmful but not illegal. It is often difficult to distinguish between the various forms of false or misleading content: there can be disinformation, which is by definition intentional, as well as misinformation, which may be unintentional. Its motivation can range from purposeful influence by foreign actors to purely economic motives. All of these problems require an appropriate response. Furthermore, more data should be subject to public scrutiny and analytical capacity should be improved.
Communication: The EU worked during the crisis to better inform citizens about the risks and to work more closely with other international actors to combat disinformation. It debunked several myths surrounding the coronavirus. That was viewed more than 7 million times. The European External Action Service, together with the Commission, has strengthened strategic communication and public diplomacy in third countries, including the EU's neighbors. Foreign actors and certain third countries, notably Russia and China, have carried out targeted influence and disinformation campaigns in the EU, its neighbors and worldwide. For example, the East Stratcom Task Force reported and denounced more than 550 disinformation stories from pro-Kermlin sources on the EUvsDisinfo website.
Cooperation is central to the fight against disinformation:
with the European Parliament and Council as well as between the EU institutions and Member States, through well-established channels, such as the rapid alert system and the integrated EU political crisis response scheme. These channels will be further developed to strengthen capabilities and improve risk analysis and essential reporting in times of crisis.
With international partners, including the World Health Organization, the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism and NATO. As a result, more frequent exchanges of information, activities and best practices took place. This should be intensified to combat foreign influence and disinformation more effectively.
The EU will increase its support for civil society actors and independent media and journalists in third countries as part of the "Team Europe Package." It will also increase support for monitoring violations of press freedom and advocating for a safer media environment.
In conclusion, many consumers were misled and bought overpriced, ineffective or potentially dangerous products, and platforms removed millions of misleading ads. The Commission will continue to work with online platforms and support national authorities' consumer protection cooperation network to combat such practices, which violate consumer protection laws.
Transparency: The Commission has been closely monitoring the activities of online platforms under the Code of Practice on Disinformation. More efforts should be made, transparency improved and accountability increased:
Platforms should issue monthly reports with more detailed data on the actions they take to promote authoritative content and to curb disinformation on corona as well as advertising related to it. They should also work more closely with fact checkers (in all member states and for all languages) and researchers, and be more transparent about the implementation of their information policies regarding users who come into contact with disinformation.
The Commission strongly urges other stakeholders who have not yet signed the Code of Conduct to participate in this new reporting program.
Based on the work of the recently established European Digital Media Observatory, the EU will provide more support to fact checkers and researchers.
Ensuring freedom of expression and pluralistic democratic debate is central to our response to disinformation. The Commission will continue to monitor the impact on EU law and values of emergency measures taken by Member States in the context of the coronavirus.The crisis has shown that free and independent media are essential to provide citizens with reliable, verified information, saving more lives. The EU will strengthen its support for independent media and journalists in the EU and worldwide. The Commission calls on member states to do more to ensure that journalists can work safely, and to make maximum use of the EU' s economic response and recovery package to provide support to media severely affected by the crisis while respecting their independence.
Empowering citizens, raising their awareness and increasing social resilience means empowering citizens to participate in democratic debate by maintaining access to information and freedom of expression and promoting citizens' media and information literacy, including critical thinking and digital skills. To this end, media literacy projects and support to civil society organizations.
The actions proposed today serve as input to future EU work on disinformation, notably the Action Plan for European Democracy and the Digital Services Act.
The European Union has been actively fighting disinformation since 2015. Following a European Council decision in March 2015, the East StratCom Task Force within the European External Action Service (EEAS) was established. In 2016, the Joint Framework for Combating Hybrid Threats was adopted, followed in 2018 by a Joint Communication on Building Resilience and Response Capacity to Hybrid Threats.
The December 2018 Action Plan Against Disinformation sets out four pillars for the EU's fight against disinformation: 1) improving the capacity to detect, analyze and uncover disinformation; 2) strengthening the coordinated and collaborative response, including through the Rapid Alert System; 3) mobilizing the private sector in the fight against disinformation; 4) raising awareness and strengthening societal resilience.
In October 2018, Facebook, Google, Twitter and Mozilla, and industry associations representing online platforms, the advertising industry and advertisers signed the Code of Practice (a self-regulatory tool for combating disinformation). Microsoft also joined in 2019. Signatories submitted self-assessments in October 2019. The Commission will publish a comprehensive assessment in the coming weeks.
Finally, in a June 2019 joint communication, the Commission and the High Representative concluded that although the May 2019 elections were the target of disinformation, the measures taken by the EU have reduced the scope for third-country influence and coordinated campaigns to manipulate public opinion.
