The collective enforcement of the code, along with the DSA, will be vital to creating a transparent, safe and trustworthy environment online
Anti-disinformation code gets a legal basis: Last week, the European Commission announced that 34 signatories had committed to the 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation. The signatories, the list of which includes advertising bodies, industry associations, social media platforms and other major tech firms (e.g. Google and Microsoft), agreed to do more to tackle issues such as propaganda, fake accounts and political advertising – and to provide country-level data on their efforts. They will have six months to comply with the pledges to which they have signed up and will be required to present an implementation report to the Commission at the beginning of 2023. The updated code provides for financial penalties in the event of non-compliance with its provisions, with fines of up to 6% of a company's global turnover possible.
Recent events have amplified the disinformation problem: The revised code builds on the original 2018 version, which first brought together the industry to agree voluntary commitments to counter disinformation. It seeks to incorporate the Commission’s May 2021 guidance and lessons learned from ongoing disinformation monitoring, which have highlighted the increasing volume and weaponisation of fake news due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Britain's withdrawal from the EU, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. To address the shortcomings of the previous iteration, the 2022 code outlines stronger and more granular measures to fight the spread of disinformation in the bloc, including commitments to broaden participation among organisations, expand fact-checking services, reduce financial incentives to spreading disinformation, and tackle coordinated manipulative behaviour such as fake accounts, bots and deep fakes.
Enhanced code not without its critics: Disinformation is the latest target for the EU as it seeks to rein in the power of big tech platforms, which have become crucial to how people access news. The code could gain extra weight in future as it aims to become recognised as a Code of Conduct under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the landmark legislation focused on tackling illegal and harmful content online. However, while the Commission considers that the code has been broadly effective to date, not everyone is impressed with the latest push. The Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe (ACT), for example, believes the revised code “does not offer concrete commitments to limit impermissible manipulative behaviour”, with its provisions going no further than “a blanket statement to follow the law”. Given the economic, social and democratic costs of disinformation (particularly in times of crisis), the collective enforcement of the code and the DSA will be vital to creating a transparent, safe and trustworthy environment online.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_22_3664
