The EU Has Updated Its Anti-Disinformation Code

The European Commission plans to publish an updated version of the disinformation code on June 16, Reuters and the Financial Times write, citing the text of the document.  Google, Meta (Facebook), Twitter and other tech companies will have to take action to counter “harmful misinformation” or face multi-billion dollar fines.

Key facts:

• 30 companies must sign the updated version of the code, including Meta, Twitter, Google, Microsoft and TikTok, writes FT.

• – According to the document, companies must develop tools for checking information and cooperate with each other in matters of fact checking.

• Signatories will be required to fight the spread of deepfakes and fake social media accounts.

• Companies will also be forced to provide data broken down by country in Europe, rather than pan-European or global data.

• Signatories will also be required to disclose data on the number of remote bots, content moderators in each country, and artificial intelligence systems that are deployed to combat fakes.

The updated code will be linked to the digital services law that the EU agreed to in April 2022.  It has a section on fighting disinformation.