The EC calls for tech giants that signed the Code to do more in the coming months.
Background: The European Commission came up with a self-regulatory Code Of Practice against disinformation in September 2018. The code was signed by some world tech giants, including Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Mozilla.
What does the report say? Today, the EC published an interim report on the progress made by the signatories. It is partially happy with the steps taken, but asks companies to do more. Facebook should be clearer on how it will deploy its consumer empowerment tools and boost cooperation with fact-checkers; Google has to deploy its tools across all member states, rather than some; and Twitter has taken down many fake accounts, but needs to improve in preventing active accounts from promoting disinformation.
Next steps: Monthly reports will follow until May 2019, to allow the EC to monitor progress and verify that effective policies are being put in place, with particular regard to the integrity of the European elections. At the end of 2019, an annual review will take place; should that be unsatisfactory, the EC will consider further measure, including prescriptive regulation.
