The reports provide an overview of actions taken. However, the Commission says that substantial gaps remain in the data provided.

The reports by online platforms are published monthly, as set out by the Commission in its Joint Communication of 10 June 2020. The latest edition covers actions taken by the participating platforms in August 2020 and also includes the reports of the trade association signatories from the advertising sector. They show that platforms continued to increase the visibility of authoritative information sources, demoting and removing content that violated their updated terms of services, and stepped up efforts to block or remove advertising that exploits the crisis. However, the Commission says that more complete, targeted and detailed quantitative data must be provided.

The Commission plans to present two complementary initiatives by the end of the year: a European Democracy Action Plan and a Digital Services Act package. Further, the European Digital Media Observatory, which began operating on 1 June 2020, will help provide oversight of the platforms’ policies and the digital media ecosystem in co-operation with a multidisciplinary community composed of academic researchers, fact-checkers, media practitioners and other relevant stakeholders. To read the Commission’s press release in full and for a link to the reports, click here.