The European Union is demanding more accountability from social media sites. The organization wants monthly reports of fake news that keep circulating without any notice.

On Wednesday, two senior EU officials said that Facebook, Twitter, and Google should now keep monthly reports on how they are planning to fight misinformation.

Source: Mashable

The decision was taken by EU foreign policy head Joseph Borrell and the European Commission vice president for values and transparency, Věra Jourová.

“Disinformation (...) can negatively impact the economy and undermine the response of the public authorities and therefore weaken the health measures,” Jourová said while calling online platforms to “step up their efforts.”

She further added, “I welcome measures taken by platforms to fight harmful content in this crisis. I support the approach that preserves freedom of expression. But they need to step up their efforts. They should provide monthly reports with more granular information on #disinformation. #EUvsDisinfo”

Borrell said that “disinformation in times of coronavirus can kill”. Well, he’s not wrong. Trump and his brilliant recommendations of drinking bleach and standing in the UV light certainly increased the number of patients reporting in the ER.

Source: Twitter

Jourova also pointed out that China’s TikTok has signed a voluntary code of conduct and they plan to fight false information with effective measures. So now political advertising, fake accounts and profitable misinformation will be checked by all the social media sites including Google, Facebook, and Twitter.