Major technology platforms have joined 34 signatories in committing to the EU Commission’s attempts to fight online disinformation by removing financial incentives and empowering researchers and fact checkers. Credit: Etienne Ansotte/EU The European Commission has strengthened its Code of Practice on Disinformation, following guidance published in 2021 that it should be updated to take into account events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war with Ukraine. The latest version builds on the original code of practice that was established in 2018, setting out a number of new commitments by both technology platforms and the broader industry to better fight disinformation online. Demonetizing the distribution of disinformation; ensuring the transparency of political advertising; maximizing cooperation with fact-checkers; and providing researchers with better access to data are all amongst the pledges signatories have committed to. “The Commission now has very significant commitments to reduce the impact of disinformation online and much more robust tools to measure how these are implemented across the EU in all countries and in all its languages,” Věra Jourová, vice president for values and transparency at the European Commission, said as part of a press release announcing the new code of practice. The code has been initially signed by 34 parties, including major social media platforms like Meta, Twitter, and TikTok, and tech giants including Adobe, Google, and Microsoft. Amazon was a notable absentee. The code will be enforced through the Digital Services Act, a piece of EU legislation that was approved in April 2022 to better protect European users from online disinformation and illegal content, goods, and services. Signatories will have six months to implement the measures to which they have signed up and will be required to provide the Commission with their first implementation reports at the beginning of 2023. A newly formed taskforce will then meet at six-month intervals to monitor and adapt the commitments in view of technological, societal, market, and legislative developments. Thierry Breton, commissioner for the internal market at the European Commission, said in a statement that spreading disinformation should never be a financially viable practice and that online platforms needed to be stronger when it came to tackling the problem, especially on the issue of funding. “Very large platforms that repeatedly break the Code and do not carry out risk mitigation measures properly risk fines of up to 6% of their global turnover,” he said. The strengthened Code of Practice contains 44 commitments and 128 specific measures that can be broadly grouped into the following areas: Cutting financial incentives for purveyors of disinformation Transparency of political advertising Ensuring the integrity of services Empowering users Empowering researchers Empowering the fact-checking community Establishing a transparency center and taskforce Strengthening a monitoring framework Related content feature Windows 11 Insider Previews: What’s in the latest build? Get the latest info on new preview builds of Windows 11 as they roll out to Windows Insiders. Now updated for Build 22635.3566 for the Beta Channel, released on April 26, 2024. By Preston Gralla Apr 26, 2024 251 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Windows 11 news Dropbox adds end-to-end encryption for team folders Dropbox this week unveiled a range of features, including security updates and key management, and the ability to co-edit Microsoft 365 documents from within the file-sharing app. By Matthew Finnegan Apr 26, 2024 3 mins Cloud Storage Collaboration Software Productivity Software feature Android versions: A living history from 1.0 to 15 Explore Android's ongoing evolution with this visual timeline of versions, starting B.C. (Before Cupcake) and going all the way to 2024's Android 15 (beta) release. By JR Raphael Apr 26, 2024 23 mins Small and Medium Business Smartphones Android news analysis The unspoken obnoxiousness of Google's Gemini improvements Google's Gemini chatbot is seeing all sorts of upgrades on Android this week, but those advancements reveal a darker underlying reality. By JR Raphael Apr 26, 2024 12 mins Google Assistant Google Android Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe