The EU tools against fake news are essential in the fight for democratic integrity. The European Union has developed laws, frameworks and partnerships to tackle disinformation, while respecting freedom of expression.
The European Union takes the issue of fake news seriously and has introduced measures and actions to combat it. Faced with the rapid spread of false information, the European Union has introduced a number of instruments to combat disinformation. Regulation in this area is not so simple, because it comes up against the principle of freedom of expression, which is one of the pillars of the EU and is guaranteed by Article 11 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
It is therefore not a question of banning disinformation, except where it falls within the scope of the criminal law of each Member State (defamation, insult, hate speech, etc.).
Nevertheless, in order to limit the spread of fake news, the EU has adopted a code of good practice signed by around thirty key players in the online information sector (including Google and Facebook). While the code is not binding, it does commit its signatories to taking measures such as banning producers of fake news from making money from advertising.
A further step was taken in August 2023 with the entry into force of the Digital Service Act, which obliges the very largest platforms to shed light on their systems for recommending content to their users. Deepfakes are also governed by another piece of legislation, the Artificial Intelligence Act. This requires ‘persons who deploy an AI system that generates or manipulates image, audio or video content that constitutes a deepfake […] to indicate that the content was generated or manipulated artificially’.
The EU also supports research into disinformation through the European Digital Media Observatory.
All these EU tools help to provide a framework for the subject and to make the social networking platforms, which play a fundamental role in spreading fake news, more accountable. In the face of this, education is the best weapon for equipping every European citizen with a critical mind and the tools they need to detect spurious content.
EU Tools Against Fake News: Laws, Platforms, and Education
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