EU spurs Facebook, Google, Twitter to fight disinformation

As the electoral campaigns ahead of the crucial European Parliamentary elections will start in March, the European Union (EU) need to see more progress on the commitments made by online platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter to fight disinformation, said the EU in a statement Friday.

The online platforms, signatories of EU's Code of Practice against disinformation, failed to provide enough details showing that new policies and tools are being deployed timely and with sufficient resources inside the Union, read the statement.

To defend the integrity of the European Parliament elections in May, the pan-Europe body demands these three online platforms to report monthly on their actions.

But the latest submitted reports "provide too little information on the actual results of the measures already taken," said the statement.

"We urge Facebook, Google and Twitter to do more across all Member States to help ensure the integrity of the European Parliament elections in May 2019. We also encourage platforms to strengthen their cooperation with fact-checkers and academic researchers to detect disinformation campaigns and make fact-checked content more visible and widespread," said the statement.

The monitoring of the Code of Practice is part of the Action Plan against disinformation that the EU adopted last December to build up capabilities and strengthen cooperation between member states and EU institutions to proactively address the threats posed by disinformation.

The European Parliament elections are expected to be held between May 23 and May 26, 2019. Amid growing populism inside Europe, the elections are expected to change the EU's political dynamics.