In new plans announced Wednesday aimed at tackling online falsehoods connected to the COVID-19 public health crisis, the European Commission mentions Beijing for the first time as a source of online disinformation linked to the coronavirus aimed at undermining Western democracies, sowing internal divisions and projecting a distorted view of China's response to the global pandemic.
Since the start of the pandemic, Beijing has pushed a pro-Chinese narrative aggressively on Western social media platforms according to which Europe and the United States have failed in their response to the coronavirus; that China has weathered the storm better than most.
The Commission called on social media companies like Facebook, Google's YouTube and Twitter to publish monthly reports into how they were tackling COVID-19 misinformation. TikTok, the Chinese-owned video-streaming app is also expected to participate in the monthly reporting.
The nonbinding demands on tech giants are part of Brussels' effort to revamp rules for these online platforms that will be published by the end of the year.
The companies will be asked to outline the types of falsities and levels of coordination of inauthentic activity on their networks. They will also have to provide data to EU officials on how they are limiting the use of online advertising or third-party websites that promote misinformation.
The Commission now asks platforms to include in their monthly reporting how they are promoting authoritative content at EU and member country level; tools to inform users when they interact with disinformation; information on efforts to manipulate the platform; and data on flows of advertising linked to COVID-19.
The EU also wants platforms to cooperate more closely with researchers and fact-checkers, as well as agree with the newly established European Digital Media Observatory on a framework to provide researchers with access to data.
Authors: Mark Scott, Laura Kayali, Laurens Cerulus
https://www.politico.eu/article/european-commission-disinformation-china-coronavirus/