The European Union severely criticizes social networks – ElSol.com.ar – Diario de Mendoza, Argentina

The European Commission (EC) has acknowledged the "steady progress" made by Facebook, Google and Twitter to increase transparency and protect the integrity of the forthcoming European elections, but felt that efforts were not enough to fight effectively against false information and misinformation on their platforms.

In a document badyzing the monthly progress of the three platforms with regard to the Code of Practice against misinformation – which they voluntarily signed in 2018 – the EC celebrated the "concrete measures" that they have taken "against the manipulative behavior of their services, including coordinated misinformation operations."

However, less than a week before the start of the European Parliament elections, he warned that "there is still much to be done to strengthen the integrity of its services, including advertising services".

In addition, he stated that the data provided by the three companies "still lacked the level of detail needed to allow an independent and accurate badessment of how platform policies have actually helped to reduce the spread of misinformation in the world. l & # 39; EU ".

The document, published on the website of the community executive, recognizes as "a clear improvement" the fact that the three companies have created public access public libraries, but questions that Google and Twitter have not been able to implement public identification and disclosure rules. problematic ads "that can be a source of controversial public debate during elections".

"All signatories should now step up their efforts to extend cooperation with fact-finders in all member states, as well as to give more power to users and the research community," says the text.

In particular, he said, platforms "need to implement a broader set of commitments in the code of practice" and work with traditional media "to develop indicators of transparency and transparency. reliability of information sources, in order to offer users a fair choice of relevant and verified information. "