• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Monday, December 11, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Democracy at Risk

EU Steps Up Fake News Fight Ahead of European Parliament Elections

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
12/05/18
in Democracy at Risk, World
Mogherini delivers a speech

Federica Mogherini. Photo: EU Parliament

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The E.U. took steps Wednesday to protect upcoming elections against disinformation campaigns from suspects like Russia, launching a bloc-wide alert system and pressuring internet giants like Facebook for more help.

Officials said their campaign will try to blunt the hatred and divisions fuelling the rise of right-wing and populist parties in a number of European countries.

“We need to be united and join our forces to protect our democracies against disinformation,” said Andrus Ansip, the E.U.’s vice president for the digital single market.

“We have seen attempts to interfere in elections and referenda, with evidence pointing to Russia as a primary source of these campaigns,” Ansip added.

European Union officials said they are taking steps to protect democracies and public debate ahead of elections in May to the European Parliament as well as before dozens of elections in member countries through 2020.

Fake news & #disinformation spread by Russia & others is a threat to liberal #democracy in Europe. I welcome the EU's decision to double the budget of those fighting it. If platforms like Facebook don't get their act together they will face regulation! #EUvsDisinfo pic.twitter.com/l9ckCc4UzV

— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) December 5, 2018

The European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation bloc, called for a system in which E.U. bodies and member states alert each other to disinformation in real time.

Set for March, the system will allow members to share data and analysis on propaganda campaigns and promote what the bloc says will be objective communications about its values and policies.

The plan will boost the Commission’s budget to tackle disinformation and raise awareness from 1.9 million euros to five million euros next year.

This will allow for an increase in staff and equipment in Brussels and among E.U. delegations to third countries. E.U. member countries are also urged to try to match the efforts.

The Commission also asked Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Mozilla as well as online and advertising trade associations to “swiftly and effectively” act on pledges made last month to fight disinformation.

‘Very Big Pressure’

These include ensuring the transparency of political advertising, closing active fake accounts and flagging messages spread automatically by “bots.”

They also include cooperating with academic researchers to detect disinformation campaigns and making fact-checked content more visible and widespread.

The Commission said it will work with European regulators of audio-visual media services to constantly monitor whether the pledges are being carried out fully.

“We will impose very big pressure on them to do what they promised to do,” the commission’s justice commissioner Vera Jourova told reporters in Brussels.

The Commission warned it could take “regulatory” action if the online platforms fail to honor the pledges they signed in a code of practice last month.

Facebook set up a “war room” in October to fight against misinformation and manipulation by foreign actors trying to influence elections worldwide.

It was responding to accusations it had done too little to prevent misinformation efforts by Russia and others in the 2016 U.S. election.

In line with U.S. intelligence assessments, the E.U. officials highlighted, in particular, the threat of disinformation from a newly assertive Russia.

“Disinformation is part of Russia’s military doctrine and its strategy to divide and weaken the west,” Ansip, a former prime minister of Estonia, told reporters.

.@Buttarelli_G interview at @MediasetTgcom24 on #fakenews and #EUElections2019 – "This is a crucial year for the future of #EU, we cannot risk any interference with the right to a democratic vote and the right to be accurately informed". Video (in IT) https://t.co/mI6IDctmnN pic.twitter.com/h2Tjomp2qQ

— EDPS (@EU_EDPS) December 5, 2018

‘Troll Factory’

Ansip, whose country is especially wary of Moscow after decades under Soviet rule, said Russia spent 1.1 billion euros a year on pro-Kremlin media.

He also referred to “a troll factory” in Saint Petersburg, the so-called “Internet Research Agency”, which a U.S. court says tried to influence the 2016 presidential election, and to Russian “bot armies.”

In Europe, Britain is investigating whether Russia tried to influence the vote for Brexit in 2016.

In France’s 2017 presidential elections, a Moscow-backed news site ran allegations aimed at discrediting Emmanuel Macron against right-wing rival Marine Le Pen.

“Healthy democracy relies on open, free and fair public debate,” the E.U.’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said. “It’s our duty to protect this space and not allow anybody to spread disinformation that fuels hatred, division, and mistrust in democracy.”

With Troll Farms Flourishing in Russia, Is There a Way to Fight Fake News?

Share4Tweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

A house is threatened by a huge blaze during a wildfire in Kineta, near Athens, on July 23, 2018
Environment

Greece Blaze is ‘Largest Wildfire Ever Recorded in EU’

by Staff Writer
August 29, 2023
President Donald Trump and US Attorney General William Barr step off Air Force One upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland last September 1, 2020.
National

US Attorney General Says No Evidence of Decisive Election Fraud

by Staff Writer
December 2, 2020
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo
Media Freedom

Fake News Punishable by Years in Prison Under Proposed Nicaraguan Law

by Staff Writer
September 29, 2020
Protests in Belarus
World

Hundreds Detained, Firearms Used in Third Night of Belarus Unrest

by Staff Writer
August 12, 2020
A Chinese Twitter user's app store
World

Russian, Chinese Media Target Europeans With COVID-19 Fake News: Study

by Alexandra Marquez
October 20, 2020
Do the Riots in Minneapolis Forebode Greater Civil Unrest for the US?
National

US Protests Over Floyd’s Killing a ‘Perfect Storm’ for False Info

by Staff Writer
June 5, 2020
Next Post
Police cars at the scene of shooting in Maryland

Active Shooters and Rampant Marijuana Use Among Top US Workplace Concerns

jamal khashoggi

Internal Battle Rages in US Senate Over Response to Khashoggi Murder

Recommended

Policemen stand next to demonstrators, among them a protester (background, C) holding the flag of Iraq, at Mynttorget Square in Stockholm, Sweden

Denmark’s Parliament Adopts Law Banning Koran Burnings

December 8, 2023
A giant crawler machine used to dredge the seabed for diamonds

Norway to Allow Deep-Sea Mining

December 5, 2023
Dutch politician Geert Wilders

Xenophobia in the Netherlands? Unpacking the PVV’s Surprising Success

November 28, 2023
Ukraine war

NATO Chief Says ‘No Alternative’ to Helping Ukraine Stop Putin

November 27, 2023
Migrants stranded at the Finland border

Russia Warns of a ‘Crisis’ at Arctic Border With Finland

November 22, 2023
People march against climate change in Bordeaux, southwestern France, on October 13, 2018.

Earth to Warm Up to 2.9C Even With Current Climate Pledges: UN

November 20, 2023

Opinion

Dutch politician Geert Wilders

Xenophobia in the Netherlands? Unpacking the PVV’s Surprising Success

November 28, 2023
Afghan refugees

The Blessed and Cursed Randomness of Our Lives

October 25, 2023
Joe Biden

The ‘Polycrisis’ Challenge: Biden’s Vision for Global Problem-Solving

September 26, 2023
Pro-Trump protester in front of Capitol Hill.

The Ominous (and Irresponsible) Chatter of a Civil War 

September 4, 2023
A bamboo-based design raises family homes safely above water levels to cope with raising water levels in Bangladesh.

The West Owes Climate Refugees Reparations Now

August 14, 2023
President Donald Trump in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House.

Boxing Day Comes to South Florida

July 5, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post