SOCIAL MEDIA DISINFO : EU BEEFS FIGHT

Brussels : The EU is stepping up its fight against disinformation spread by accounts on Facebook, Google, Twitter and other social media with a bolstered code of practice presented Thursday.

The text - a reinforced revision of the code originally launched in 2018 - aims to push the platforms to more urgently and systematically crack down on false advertising, demonetise accounts spreading disinformation and boost fact-checking.

The code, obtained by AFP ahead of publication, remains voluntary.

But officials expect around 30 bodies to sign up, including some of the biggest social media companies, including Facebook parent Meta, Twitter, Microsoft and TikTok, along with big advertising corporations.

They all had input into the drafting of the updated code along with fact-checking outfits and media watchdogs such as Reporters Without Borders [RSF] by its initials in French].

It was to be presented by the EU commissioner for transparency, Vera Jourova, and internal market commissioner Thierry Breton.

The new code of practice contains some 40 commitments, around double the number in the previous version, along with indicators to measure how well they are being met.

While the previous text relied on self-regulation, the new one holds the biggest platforms - those with at least 45 million users in the EU - to binding measures set out in the block's Digital Service Act [DSA].

The DSA, in the process of being adopted, requires big online companies to reduce risks linked to disinformation or face fines that could go as high as six percent of the global turnover.

By signing up to the code, they can show they are taking ''risk-mitigating'' measures demanded by the DSA.

One of the main innovations in the code is to cut advertising platforms off from receiving revenue from ads placed on sites carrying disinformation. [AFP]