EU Beefs Up Efforts Against Fake News; Facebook Criticized

Social media platforms must act quickly to counter fake news or face possible regulation, the European Commission said Wednesday. It announced a plan against disinformation aimed at protecting democratic systems and public debate before 2019 national and local elections, including a "rapid alert system" among EU institutions and countries to make it easier to share data and assess disinformation campaigns, and close monitoring of a self-regulatory code of practice signed in October by Facebook, Google, Twitter and Mozilla. Signatories "should swiftly and effectively implement" commitments, focusing on actions urgent for elections, the EC said. That includes ensuring transparency of political advertising, ramping up efforts to shutter fake accounts, labeling non-human interactions, and cooperating with fact-checkers to detect disinformation campaigns and make fact-checked content more visible. The plan seeks better detection via more specialized staff and data analysis tools, backed by a funding increase from 1.9 million euros ($2.2 million) to 5 million euros ($5.8 million); and for promoting media literacy among Europeans. Platforms have until the end of 2018 to update the EC on compliance, and must report monthly January-May. Without satisfactory progress, the EC may propose further measures, including regulation, it said. Asked at a news briefing whether 5 million euros was enough to counter the massively financed activities of Russia Today, Sputnick and Russian trolls, EC Digital Single Market Vice-President Andrus Ansip said the goal isn't to recreate the kind of propaganda machine Russia has but to detect disinformation, find out who's behind it and use facts to debunk lies. Asked whether the EC has faith that Facebook will tackle disinformation given that the platform allowed Russian bots to access its services -- discovered in a U.K. parliamentary inquiry -- Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said everything the EC does concerning self-regulatory measures affecting information and technology companies is based on "trust and check." Google and Facebook didn't comment. Twitter's "No. 1 priority is improving the health of the public conversation," a spokesperson said. "Tackling coordinated disinformation campaigns is a key component." He said Twitter is working on a partnership with UNESCO on online media and information literacy.