CPB advises licensing system to fight fake news on online platforms

The Central Planning Bureau has issued advice to prevent the spread of misleading information via online platforms. One of the recommendations is to use a licensing system to gain more transparency.

The CPB makes the non-binding recommendations to the government. In total, there are six possible measures. These apply to ‘digital platforms’, which the organization includes among other things, search engines, social media and marketplaces. Licensing these services should enable regulators to ‘get a grip on these parties’. The CPB draws a comparison with the financial sector, where ‘high requirements are imposed on banking licences’. Details of the interpretation of a licensing system are not included in the advice.

Another measure to prevent the spread of misleading information is to provide insight into the way in which platforms rank information. This would allow users to better estimate which information is reliable. Other recommendations include flagging and filtering “harmful information”, entering verified accounts, and identifying political ads.

The recommendations include several measures that companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter have taken in the past. For example, Facebook introduced the rule in the US that political advertisements on its site must be recognizable as such. Verified accounts have also become standard by various services. Interior Minister Ollongren said in November that she wants to sit down with companies such as Google and Facebook to discuss the fight against fake news.