The European Commission already does not conform with the grandiloquent statements of the magnates digital as Zuckerberg about his fight against the campaigns of disinformation. From next January 1, and at least until the elections are held at the European Parliament in may of 2019, the large Internet platforms must report monthly to Brussels on the outcome of his fight against the fake news and, in particular, about the fake accounts closed down, the tracking of bots (messages propagated automatically without human interaction), or how to collaborate with external verifiers of data and content.
Among the companies required to report include Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Twitter, which last October signed with the EU a voluntary code of conduct in which they committed themselves to redouble efforts against the fake news. The code provides for an annual review. But Brussels has decided to tighten the siege, after noting the imminent risk of hoaxes digital multiplying in the coming months.
MORE INFORMATION
Brussels tries to shield more than 50 electoral processes against the impact of the ‘fake news’ A group of meps is mobilized to push for a law on false news, The european Parliament calls for more resources to combat interference, Russian
The detailed monthly check is part of the plan of action to combat the misinformation approved this Wednesday by the european Commission, whose priority objective is to shield the more than 50 elections in the countries of the EU during the next 24 months, including the elections in europe. In Spain, in addition to the elections for the European Parliament the 26 of may will be held regional elections in 13 communities and municipalities throughout the country.
The plan of the Commission considers that the disinformation campaigns against the community institutions and against the EU in general “will increase in all likelihood in the final stretch towards the may elections of 2019”. And take for granted that the goal of the attackers is no other than to discredit the institutions and their representatives and to “undermine the european project itself.”
The document describes the fake news as one of the weapons of war hybrid in that they have embarked several foreign powers. And accuses openly on Russia to be one of the main aggressors.
“There’s a lot of evidence points to Russia as one of the main sources of disinformation in Europe”, stated the vice-president of the Commission for the Digital Area, Andrus Ansip, during the presentation of the Plan in Brussels. “The misinformation is part of the military doctrine of Russia and its strategy is to weaken and divide the West,” added Ansip.
The EU is aware of the Russian Betvole menace from 2014, during the conflict between Moscow and Ukraine. The Commission created a unit of “strategic communication” dedicated to detect and to counter campaigns of misinformation. Despite their limited means (little more than a dozen people), the unit has identified more than 4,500 examples of fibs digital propagated from Russia from 2015.
The flood of digital falsehoods, according to Brussels, has increased especially around electoral events within the EU, or during moments of tension with Moscow, as the war in Syria, the downing of a commercial airliner in the airspace of the Ukrainian (with dozens dead, many of them european) or after the recent chemical attack in the Uk (attributed to the Kremlin).
The new Plan calls for the recruitment of 11 more people before the elections of may and of half a hundred people in two years, including data analysts, researchers in various languages and experts in communication. The project Budgets in europe to 2019 envisages, in addition, to double the budget of the unit of strategic information, which will increase from 1,800 million in 2018 5,000 million in the coming year.
The 30 disciples of the farm of trolls in St. Petersburg
“The disinformation coming from the Russian Federation represents the biggest threat to the EU”, warns the Plan of action approved by the European Commission this Wednesday. “It is systematic, well-resourced and of a different magnitude to that of other countries”, adds the document, citing the Cell Fusion against threats hybrid, the intelligence unit created by the External Service of the Commission.
The vice-president of the Commission, Andrus Ansip, has stressed during the presentation of the Plan: “Russia spends more than 1,100 million euros in media favorable to the Kremlin”. And it has been suggested that a good part of that money is used to spread rumours against the European Union or its member States. “You might have heard of the factory of trolls in St. Petersburg and his army of bots,” added Ansip, alluding to suspicions that businessmen close to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, funded a center of mass intoxication housed in the former imperial capital of Russia.
The document the Commission also warns that other countries are rapidly learning the techniques of Russian, which apply both inside and outside its borders. Brussels cites reports of at least 30 States involved in the war of propaganda and disinformation, from Turkey to Sudan to Mexico during the presidency of Peña Nieto.
