A top European Union official on Wednesday issued a warning on tech giants like Google and Facebook to do more than they need to in the fight against the spread of fake news, but praised Twitter's approach to fact-checking a tweet by President Donald Trump.
Rolling out a new policy to combat coronavirus-related disinformation, European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova disclosed she would like online tech firms to provide a more comprehensive report each month than they are currently doing to avert a so-called deluge of "infodemic."
World health and scientific leaders have cautioned for months about the dissemination of fake information online surrounding the pandemic, including everything from the virus' origin to bogus treatments and how nations are handling the disease.
The officials are not only worried about attempts by some powerful countries to sway European politics, but the direct impact to the general public from coronavirs pandemic misinformation and false notion on anti-vaccination.
Jourova said disinformation is not only detrimental to democracies, it also endangers the well-being of its people. The hoped-for reports would outline both steps taken to reduce the misrepresentation surrounding COVID-19, including advertising, and various measures being carried out to promote reliable information.
According to Jourova, disinformation can have negative repercussions on the economy and hamper the "response of public authorities and therefore weaken the health measures," as she urged online platforms to "step up their efforts," Stan Schroeder of Mashable reported. But, Borrell was straight to the point: "Disinformation in times of coronavirus can kill."
Jourová even said China's TikTok has also signed a voluntary code of conduct on how misinformation can be combated. Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Mozilla previously signed this code of conduct, which touches on transparency in political advertising, fake accounts, and demonetizing those who profit from the promotion of fake news.
The EU commission stated that certain powerful countries are inundating Europe with targeted influence operations and misinformation campaigns, citing that harmful misinformation such as reports that drinking bleach may cure COVID-19 and that washing hands does not help prevent the virus from spreading.
All major online sites have struggled to prevent the spread of misinformation surrounding the disease, and since then all have implemented measures ranging from banning accounts accused of peddling the worst content, to adding more fact-checking tags. Most now try to come up with reliable sources of data whenever a user searches or posts something linked to the pandemic.
