‘European Commission orders tech companies to take tougher action against deepfakes’

The European Commission will tighten a code of conduct for major tech companies to ensure that they take measures to tackle deepfake images and fake accounts. After signing, the companies will have six months to take measures.

The European Commission publishes the updated code of conduct to combat disinformation Thursday, Reuters reports, which was given access to documents about this. The code of conduct came into effect in 2018, but after the tightening of the European Commission, it would involve so-called co-regulation, whereby authorities and signatories take more responsibility for compliance.

The amended text states, among other things, that signatories to the code of conduct ‘adopt, strengthen and implement clear policies’ to counter manipulative behavior of ‘evil actors’ on their services. After signing, the companies such as Twitter, Google and Meta have six months to implement the policies and measures. If they do not comply with the rules, they risk a fine of up to 6 percent of their annual turnover on the basis of the Digital Services Act. The European Commission reached an agreement in April on the Digital Services Act, which obliges major tech companies, among others, to take a tougher approach to disinformation.