REUTERS

To protect its democratic systems and public debates and in view of the 2019 European elections as well as a number of national and local elections that will be held in Member States by 2020, the EU has presented an Action Plan to step up efforts to counter disinformation in Europe and beyond.

Taking stock of the progress made so far and following up on the call made by European leaders in June 2018 to protect the Union's democratic systems, the European Commission and the High Representative are setting out concrete measures to tackle disinformation, including the creation of a Rapid Alert System and close monitoring of the implementation of the Code of Practice  signed by the online platforms. The Action Plan also foresees an increase of resources devoted to the issue, according to the European Commission press service.

“We need to be united and join our forces to protect our democracies against disinformation. We have seen attempts to interfere in elections and referenda, with evidence pointing to Russia as a primary source of these campaigns. To address these threats, we propose to improve coordination with Member States through a Rapid Alert System, reinforce our teams exposing disinformation, increase support for media and researchers, and ask online platforms to deliver on their commitments. Fighting disinformation requires a collective effort,” said Andrus Ansip, European Commission Vice-President responsible for the Digital Single Market.

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The Action Plan focuses on four areas key to effectively build up the EU's capabilities and strengthen cooperation between Member States and the EU:

Improved detection: Strategic Communication Task Forces and the EU Hybrid Fusion Cell in the European External Action Service (EEAS), as well as the EU delegations in the neighborhood countries will be reinforced with significant additional specialized staff and data analysis tools. EU Member States should complement these measures by reinforcing their own means to deal with disinformation. 

Coordinated response: A dedicated Rapid Alert System will be set up among the EU institutions and Member States to facilitate the sharing of data and assessments of disinformation campaigns and to provide alerts on disinformation threats in real time.

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Online platforms and industry: The signatories of the Code of Practice should ensure transparency of political advertising, step up efforts to close active fake accounts, label non-human interactions (messages spread automatically by ‘bots') and cooperate with fact-checkers and academic researchers to detect disinformation campaigns and make fact-checked content more visible and widespread.

Raising awareness and empowering citizens: In addition to targeted awareness campaigns, the EU institutions and Member States will promote media literacy through dedicated programmes. Support will be provided to national multidisciplinary teams of independent fact-checkers and researchers to detect and expose disinformation campaigns across social networks.