The world's biggest tech companies are set to sign up to an updated version of the EU's anti-disinformation code, with European countries looking at ways to more effectively crack down on groups that spread propaganda and fake news through online platforms.
Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft and TikTok are among the first to prepare to join the EU's new "regime", making key concessions on the data they are willing to share with individual countries for efforts to tackle disinformation.
The move represents the latest attempt to curb the power of the companies, otherwise known as "Big Tech", with the EU at the forefront of a push for global regulation of internet platforms that have become crucial to how billions of people get news and information.
According to a confidential report seen by the Financial Times, an updated “code of practice on disinformation” will force technology platforms to disclose how they are removing, blocking or curbing harmful content in advertising and content promotion.
Online platforms will need to counter “harmful disinformation” by developing tools and partnerships with fact-checkers that could include removing propaganda, but also including “credibility indicators” on independently verified information on issues like the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic.
But more importantly, big tech groups will also be forced to provide a summary of their efforts in individual countries, rather than just providing global or European data as they currently do.
This move has previously been resisted by technology companies, but national regulators have requested more specific data so they can better target those spreading misinformation within specific countries.
Věra Jourová, the EU vice-president for values and transparency tasked with the code, said that “to respond to disinformation effectively, country- and language-specific data is needed. We know that disinformation is different in every country and large platforms will now need to provide meaningful data that would allow them to better understand the situation at country level.”
(More information can be found in the article Financial Times, available in English)