EU/Censorship

EU/Censorship
Interest of	Marjorie Buchser

The European Union has become the organizer and funder of a large number of censorship initiatives, especially taking control over corporate social media.

Code of Conduct to Combat Disinformation

By signing the "Code of Conduct to Combat Disinformation" in October 2018, the Big Tech corporations committed themselves -formally voluntarily - to "invest in technological means to prioritize relevant,authentic, and accurate and authoritative information where appropriate in search,feeds, or other automatically ranked distribution channels" and "Improve the scrutiny of advertisement placements to reduce revenues of the purveyors of disinformation".

Fact checkers

“Facts are one thing and opinions are another. Opinions are free; facts are facts.”
Joseph Borrell (10 June 2020) 
Vice-President of the European Commission 

Action Plan against Disinformation

In December 2018, the EU launched an Action Plan against Disinformation. Stating that "disinformation often targets European institutions and their representatives and aims at undermining the European project itself in general", addressing it "requires political determination and unified action, mobilising all parts of governments (including counter-hybrid, cybersecurity, intelligence and strategic communication communities, data protection, electoral, law enforcement and media authorities).

European Digital Media Observatory

On 1 June 2020, the European Digital Media Observatory started, aiming" to become the European hub to fight online disinformation. It will pool resources, provide tools and networking instruments, and create a safe harbour for data access to fact-checkers and researchers who work to debunk, expose, understand and analyse disinformation activities, trends and techniques online."

The creation of the Observatory is one of the elements in the Commission’s detailed Action Plan against disinformation, published on 5 December 2018.

Digital Services Act

“For too long, tech platforms have amplified disinformation and extremism with no accountability. The EU is poised to do something about it. I urge our transatlantic allies to push the Digital Services Act across the finish line and bolster global democracy before it's too late.”
Hillary Clinton (April 2022) 

The Digital Services Act (DSA) entered into force in October 2022. The expressed purpose of the DSA harmonise different national laws in the European Union that have emerged at national level to address "illegal content" and "information that, while not illegal, contributes to the systemic risks identified in this Regulation."

In the event of a "crisis" such as a declared pandemic or the Ukraine war ("A crisis shall be deemed to have occurred when exceptional circumstances lead to a serious threat to public security or public health in the Union"), the "rapid reaction mechanism" kicks in ."In this case, Article 37 allows the EU Commission to intervene directly and require digital corporations to immediately identify and apply "specific, effective and proportionate measures such as those provided for in Article 27(1) or Article 37(2)", which includes "crisis protocols" and adaptation of search algorithms or the demonetisation of unwelcome publishers.

2022 Strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation

The 2022 Strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation built on the 2018 Code while "setting more ambitious commitments and measures aimed at countering online disinformation." The new commitments from "more diverse range of stakeholders" include demonetising the dissemination of disinformation; guaranteeing transparency of political advertising; enhancing cooperation with fact-checkers; and giving "vetted researchers" access to personal data.

Russian media outlets

In 2014, the EU introduced "further restrictive measures" to suspend the broadcasting activities of media outlets under the "permanent direct or indirect control of the leadership of the Russian Federation", in the Union or directed at the Union. The regulation also prohibited "advertising products or services in any content produced or broadcast by the Russian media outlet". In 2022, these measures were sharpened, to "It shall be prohibited for operators to broadcast or to enable, facilitate or otherwise contribute to broadcast, any content by the legal persons, entities or bodies listed" (notably Sputnik and RT), or to participate, knowingly and intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent these prohibitions.

European Media Freedom Act

In September 2022, the European Commission proposed an Orwellian-sounding European Media Freedom Act. It will create a new "independent" European Board for Media Services, comprised of national media authorities. The Act will ensure that media – state and corporate – can operate more easily across borders in the EU internal market, thus bypassing national regulators, and will make sure media ownership and government subsidies through state advertising are under control by the Board. The Board will also monitor platforms' compliance with self-regulatory "initiatives", such as the EU Code of Practice on Disinformation. The Act is targeted against countries like Hungary and Poland, which have tried to keep national control over the media landscape.

The draft also states that EU authorities may take more aggressive measures against "rogue media service providers, including from some other nations," who may ultimately endanger national security.

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