Google, Facebook and Twitter have proposed to the European Commission a plan to counter misinformation online

Google, Facebook, Twitter have joined forces with other IT firms and advertisers to fight fake news in Europe.

This was reported by Bloomberg.

The Alliance of Companies, which includes, besides IT giants, Mozilla Corp and major Internet advertisers, presented to the European Commission its "Code of Practice to Fight Disinformation."

Created by the European Commission called in April 2018. The EC demanded the cessation of the distribution of fake news, threatening social networks and IT companies with restrictions in case of refusal to cooperate.

Within the framework of their plan, companies promise to invest in technologies and programs that should inform users about the reliability of sources of information, to make high-priority reliable news in search engines and news feeds. At the same time, the diversity of views must also play a significant role in the work of these technologies.

Also, the proposed plan provides for strict conditions for online advertising, which should limit the distribution of misinformation in the network advertising space.

On September 26, an official statement by Maria Gabriel, the European Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, where she approved the proposed Codex company, was published on the European Commission's website, but called on them to strengthen their efforts in the field of combating disinformation in the network and noted that the commission would be particularly vigilant about the "The effectiveness of this plan".

Representatives of the media and consumer associations who attended the presentation of the Code for external evaluation of its relevance, reacted negatively to the proposed plan.

"The Code does not have clear and important commitments, there are no specific goals, and therefore it is impossible to objectively control its implementation," they said.

The European Commission will evaluate the first results of the Codex implementation by the end of the year, after which, if necessary, it will propose adjustments or, in the case of unsatisfactory results, new restrictions for IT companies.

As it was reported, the United States wants to check whether IT giants are suppressing freedom of speech and competition.

Recall that in June 2018, the European Commission fined Google for a record $ 5 billion for monopolistic practices in the mobile technology market.

Earlier, Trump said that Twitter, Facebook and Google were trying to "silence the views of Republican supporters."

September 5 representatives of Facebook and Twitter gave testimony in the US Congress over disinformation in social networks.

hromadske.ua  In Ukrainian/український