The Commission is proposing a code of practice to combat the fake news phenomenon, which is considered "dangerous for democracy". "Otherwise, he warns that he will intervene legally," DW writes.
"We do not want to set up a Ministry of Truth," said European Commissioner for Homeland Security Julian King jokingly, referring to the creepy dialect that dominates George Orwell's famous 1984 novel. In other words, King emphasizes, "we do not want to decide what is right and what is wrong to say on the Internet." Freedom of opinion is not endangered, the Commissioner clarified, but Internet users should have at their disposal those tools that will allow them to judge for themselves, if they read fake news, who is responsible for writing the texts and who pays for the content.
To achieve this, the European Commission is first proposing a series of measures, which converge on a social media commitment - such as Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram - to combat fake news. "Particular vigilance" is needed on this issue, especially in view of the 2019 European elections and the possible risks that "fake news" will affect the electoral process, the Commissioner warns.
Among other things, the Commission proposes to compile by the summer, together with the major social media platforms, a list of criteria for detecting misinformation. The point, of course, is that even the definition of fake news is questionable. Fake news for US President Donald Trump is CNN, while for the European Commission it is the organized troll groups in Russia. In fact, Commissioner King does not fail to remind that the dissemination of false information is included in the official defense doctrine of Russia. In addition, the Commission proposes the establishment of a European body of experts, which will check the validity of allegations that refer to fake news, as well as the support of media that seek to uncover non-existent allegations, investigating the facts.
The Commission urges major Internet platforms to devise, on a voluntary basis, a bookmarking system for the news and posts they host, so that it is visible who has written what and for what content has received a fee. To detect fake news, it is suggested to use artificial intelligence applications and trained algorithms, which will comb the internet looking for trolls and fake accounts. But the Internet users themselves, the Commission points out, should receive more complete information about who writes the posts they read and how the algorithms of each platform work.
The Commission gives all stakeholders a deadline to fight fake news on a voluntary basis until October 2018. It will then decide whether self-regulation is sufficient or binding provisions are required. Commissioner King cites opinion polls showing that 83% of Europeans consider fake news a "threat to democracy", 60% say they do not understand the criteria used to select the information they receive via Twitter or Facebook. 26% describe social media as "reliable". At the same time, traditional media such as newspapers and television enjoy a high degree of trust, as 70% consider them to be credible.