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.