During these months of confinement, we have witnessed the appearance of countless false information related to Covid-19 on the main social platforms, causing many of this information to have been assumed by users as true, although the work of the verifiers of facts has been fundamental to leave this information in evidence before the public opinion.
But the fact that hundreds of false information and misleading advertising spread has not been particularly liked within the European Union, which considers that China and Russia are particularly behind the dissemination of this information.
In this regard, two senior officials of the European Union, Josep Borrel, head of Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Vera Jourova, vice president of securities and transparency of the European Commission, are requesting that the main technology companies issue monthly reports detailing the efforts they are carrying out to stop the spread of false information and misleading advertising related to Covid-19, according to Reuters.
Jourova points out that disinformation not only damages the health of our democracies, but also damages the health of our citizens, according to a press release, adding that it can negatively affect the economy and undermine the response of public authorities and, therefore, hence weaken health measures.
In addition, he has made special mention of TikTok, the popular short video platform, owned by the Chinese conglomerate Bytedance, noting that he has joined the group of companies that are part of the voluntary Code of Conduct of the European Union to combat disinformation, among the which are Google, Facebook, Twitter and Mozilla.
Although this does not change the focus of the application, from TikTok they will work to ensure the veracity and transparency in the ads, attack the fake profiles and bots, and give priority to the authorized information when relevant, joining the work of the researchers helping them in the search for disinformation campaigns.
