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European leaders call for continued and coordinated efforts to counter disinformation threats

22.03.2019
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The European Council today welcomed the important work accomplished in countering disinformation in the past months, and called for further enhanced coordinated efforts to address its internal and external aspects.

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To protect European and national elections, the European Commission and the European External Action Service, in cooperation with the other EU institutions and EU Member States, have stepped up their action to make sure that choices of European citizens are free from manipulation, disinformation, or any interference coming from inside or outside the EU. European leaders have stressed information sharing was key in countering disinformation and praised the establishment of the Rapid Alert System (RAS) as an important step forward. The RAS, launched on 18 March, aims to strengthen coordination, analysis and joint responses to disinformation through a dedicated digital platform for a network of contact points from the 28 EU Member States and the EU institutions. On 20 March, the European Commission published the latest monthly reports from Google, Twitter, and Facebook. These online platforms are all signatories of the Code of Practice against disinformation and have committed to report their progress in the run up to the European Parliament elections in May 2019. The Commission is monitoring their progress towards meeting the commitments that are most relevant and urgent ahead of the election campaign: scrutiny of ad placements; political and issue-based advertising; and integrity of services. Today, the European Council also urged online platforms and social networks to fully implement the Code of Practice and ensure higher standards of responsibility and transparency. 

 

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