Tech companies agree to stricter European rules against disinformation

The European Commission has presented stricter rules against disinformation. Tech companies must therefore intervene more strongly against fake accounts and deepfakes on their platforms. Several major tech companies have agreed to the rules.

The new rules were presented on Thursday by European Commissioners Thierry Breton and Věra Jourová, who say that the new rules of conduct for platforms build on the existing code of practice from 2018, but with adjustments to address some shortcomings. For example, according to the European Commission, the guidelines were drawn up on the basis of ‘lessons learned from the corona pandemic and the war in Ukraine’.

With the new rules, tech companies must, among other things, take stricter measures against the spread of fake news on their platforms. The ‘code’ consists of 44 concrete commitments that platform holders make to achieve this, for example to tackle deepfakes, bots and fake accounts. For example, the new rules focus on removing financial benefits from spreading fake news on social media, for example by depriving advertising revenues from fake news websites.

Researchers also need better access to data from major platforms and ‘searchable libraries’ of political advertisements should be created for transparency. Platform holders also commit to working more closely with fact-checkers to verify information. Users should also be given more options to recognize and report misinformation.

In total, 34 companies signed the new rules of the European Union† This includes platform holders such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, Twitch and Twitter. Several smaller companies, for example active in the online advertising market, also agree. However, signing is voluntary and a number of major companies, such as Apple and Telegram, are missing from the list. Companies that have signed the rules will have six months to apply the agreements made. A task force will be set up to monitor, evaluate and adjust the commitments based on possible developments in technology, society and the market.

The new code is supported by the upcoming Digital Services Act, which makes it possible, among other things, to impose fines on companies that do not comply with the agreements made. “Very large platforms that repeatedly break the code and fail to properly implement mitigation measures face fines of up to six percent of their global revenue,” says European Commissioner Thierry Breton†