EU wants monthly fake news report from Facebook, Twitter, Google

EU wants monthly fake news report from Facebook, Twitter, Google

Facebook, Google, and Twitter should report monthly on how they're fighting fake news, two EU officials said Wednesday.

The social media giants are party to a voluntary EU code of conduct.

Lucy Fielder reports.

Facebook, Google, and Twitter should provide monthly reports on their fight against fake news, EU officials said Wednesday (June 10) -- as they called out Russia and China for spreading disinformation, particularly since the novel coronavirus broke out.

This was EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell: "The coronavirus pandemic has been accompanied by a massive 'infodemic.'

We have witnessed a wave of false and misleading information, hoaxes and conspiracy theories, as well as targeted influence operations by foreign actors.

Some of this is aimed at harming the European Union and its member states." The next fake-news front is vaccination, with a study showing Germans' willingness to be vaccinated fell by 20 percentage points in just two months.

That was according to the European Commission's vice president for values and transparency, Vera Jourova.

She said COVID-19 had underscored how fake news harms the health of democracies and citizens, impacts the economy and undermines the government response.

Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Mozilla are among signatories to a voluntary EU code of conduct.