Brussels, 24 September 2024
Today, major online platforms and signatories of the Code of Practice on Disinformation – including Google, Meta, Microsoft, and TikTok – have published their fourth set of reports detailing their actions to combat the spread of disinformation online, with a particular focus on the European elections held in June.
Available on the Transparency Centre, the reports feature information about the cooperation between signatories to protect the integrity of the European elections, as well as their experience of the Code’s Rapid Response System. The reports are accompanied by a set of Structural Indicators, providing insights that cover the prevalence of and engagement with online disinformation during the electoral period, measured across four EU countries. Signatories also indicate the measures they took to provide safeguards against the creation and dissemination of disinformation through generative artificial intelligence (AI).
Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age and Competition, said:
“The Digital Services Act and the specific measures of the Code constitute a robust framework to protect the integrity of elections. This creates a digital environment where actual enforceable standards ensure that Europeans are better protected against the threat of disinformation.”
Věra Jourová, Vice-President for Values and Transparency, said:
“This cooperation is a testament of the Code as an efficient instrument bringing together online platforms, civil society and fact-checkers. By strengthening our defences against disinformation and empowering citizens with the skills to evaluate information critically, we are reinforcing the very foundations of democracy. This will be central towards a European Democracy Shield. I also expect signatories of the Code to move swiftly with its conversion into a Code of Conduct under the Digital Services Act.”
In March 2024, signatories reported on the measures they planned to put in place to protect the integrity of the European elections. In the reports published today, platforms provide data regarding the implementation of these measures, such on the reach of their media literacy activities or on ways they promoted reliable information about the electoral process. The next set of reports is expected in Spring 2025.
In her political guidelines, President von der Leyen stated that she will propose a new European Democracy Shield to counter foreign information manipulation and interference online, with the aim of increasing situational awareness by detecting, analysing and proactively countering disinformation and information manipulation.
Source – EU Commission