In January 2018, the European Commission set up a high-level group of experts to advise on policy initiatives to counter fake news and disinformation spread online. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), together with other expert members of the EU High Level Group on Fake News and Disinformation, subsequently delivered on March 12th, 2018 a report on fake news and online disinformation, which requests the creation of a new framework to address the role of online platforms in today’s news media environment.
A set of measures to fight online disinformation is outlined in the report, including the creation of a multi-stakeholder Coalition and Code of Practice, to follow up on the High Level Group’s work.
The EBU considers that a number of policy initiatives need to be undertaken or strengthened to address the root causes of the online ‘Information disorder’, without undermining the core principles of freedom of expression and media pluralism. Key measures should target giving citizens easy access to high quality content provided by the professional news media and public service media in particular; increasing the transparency of social media news ranking systems; ensuring that fake news articles do not generate revenues for their creators; and boosting media literacy.
More information on the report is available from the EBU website.