A voluntary, self-regulatory European Code of Practice on Disinformation (the “Code”) was published on September 26, 2018. Under this Code, technology, media and advertising companies commit to implementing new measures to counter “fake news” (i.e. various types of false information including fabricated, manipulated and misleading content) and other forms of disinformation.
Fake news has been on the EU’s radar for some time now. The European Parliament adopted a Resolution in June 2017 calling on the European Commission (the “Commission”) to examine the issue and look at existing laws and possible legislative interventions. In November last year, the Commission announced the creation of a High-Level Expert Group (the “Group”) tasked with defining the scope of the phenomenon, identifying the steps that have already been taken by stakeholders against it, highlighting best practice in the area, and advising on policy initiatives and strategy to counter the issue on both a short and long term basis. The Code was recommended by this 39 member Group in its March 2018 report (the “Report”) and championed in the Commission’s April communication, titled “Tackling online disinformation: a European Approach”.
Signatories to the Code commit to taking steps to help people in Europe make informed decisions when they encounter online news that could be false, such as prioritising authentic information in search rankings or news feeds, making diverse perspectives more visible, establishing clear marking systems for bots (computer programs designed to simulate human activity) to ensure that they cannot be confused with real human interactions, and developing indicators of trustworthiness in collaboration with news organisations. Signatories also commit to making information available to the Commission on request, co-operating with efforts to assess how/whether the Code is working, and to publishing annual reports about their work to tackle disinformation, to be submitted to an independent third party for review.
Critics of the Code feel that it does not go far enough, and are particularly concerned by the explicit exclusion of “misleading advertising” and “clearly identified partisan news and commentary” from its scope. However, the Commission has not ruled out the possibility of further regulation in the future if the Code proves to be ineffective.
