July 23, 2018

The European Commission Working Group on online disinformation has delivered a draft Code of Practice to tackle online disinformation.  The Working Group (which is part of the Multi-stakeholder Forum) is composed of online platforms, leading social networks, advertisers and the advertising industry.  A final code of practice is expected in September.

The draft Code of Practice maps out the Commission’s objectives outlined in its Communication “Tackling online Disinformation”, and aims to reduce online disinformation by addressing the following five main areas:

• improving the scrutiny of ad placements to demonetise purveyors of disinformation;
• ensuring the transparency of political advertising and issue-based advertising to enable users to identify promoted content;
• ensuring the integrity of platforms’ services, including by identifying and closing fake accounts and using appropriate mechanisms to signal bot-driven interactions;
• making it easier for users to discover and access different news sources representing alternative viewpoints; and
• empowering the research community by granting access to platforms’ data that are necessary to continuously monitor online disinformation.

The Multi-stakeholder Forum also consists of the Sounding Board, which is providing advice on the Code and is composed of associations representing the media sector, civil society and fact-checking organisations, as well as academia.

The Sounding Board welcomed the first draft, but said that it “does not yet address adequately the full set of Objectives as per the Communication”.  The Sounding Board has called for “significant improvements”, including concrete commitments and clarity on who commits to what and redress mechanisms for potential breaches of the Code.

The Sounding Board is expected to deliver its opinion by early September.  A final Code of Practice will be adopted by the end of September 2018.  To read the Multi-stakeholder Forum’s press statement in full, click here.