The European Parliament on Wednesday called for more measures to curb Russian disinformation, nearly two weeks after the invasion of Ukraine.
Lawmakers overwhelmingly supported a report on foreign interference in the EU, the result of an 18-month inquiry to assess and propose solutions to how foreign regimes, including Moscow and Beijing, aim to manipulate, influence and weaken the EU through disinformation, cyberattacks and covert funding of political parties. 552 MEPs voted in favor, while 81 voted against and 60 abstained.
Backing a comprehensive 65-page report filled with recommendations for rules on online platforms, media, cybersecurity, international cooperation and election campaigns, European lawmakers also applauded the EU-wide ban on Russian outlets RT and Sputnik.
MEPs called for more action to stop Russian disinformation from “weakening and dividing the EU’s public opinion and EU decision makers,” but did not specify in the report initiatives they would like to see in response to Russia’s invasion.
“Online platforms and tech companies need to take a stand by proactively suspending accounts engaged in denying, glorifying and justifying aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Latvian center-right MEP Sandra Kalniete proposed during a Tuesday debate in Parliament, echoing previous requests from the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish prime ministers. Kalniete is the lead lawmaker behind the report.
The Baltic politician also urged the EU to ban several other state-backed television channels, including Russian-language Russia-24, from broadcasting in the EU.
The report more broadly asks the European Commission to look into “minimum standards for media as a basis on which to possibly revoke licenses in the event of breaches,” and suggests making it possible to revoke media accreditations for state-backed media organizations. The document singles out Russian, Chinese and Turkish outlets translated into local languages, like RT, Sputnik, CCTV, Global Times, Xinhua and Anadolu.
It also calls for the reinforcement of the EU’s foreign services disinformation and strategic communications units. Social media platforms are asked to step up their investments in European-language content moderation and to modify their recommendation and advertising algorithms.
“Our report has a lot of concrete recommendations for harmonization of legislation and concrete changes in terms of rules but most of all, it calls for something simpler: political courage and lucidity, also named leadership, that’s what we were lacking and what we need now,” said the president of the special committee that led the inquiry, French center-left MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, at a press conference Tuesday.
Parliament also lamented what it sees as the EU’s slow awakening to decade-long efforts from some foreign regimes to influence the bloc.
“[Vladimir] Putin’s propaganda machinery was not turned on only on February 24 when he attacked Ukraine; it has been working in Europe for decades already, attempting to poison and divide our societies,” said Kalniete.
The inquiry took MEPs to Taiwan and the U.S. and involved input from Commission staff and officials, national politicians and NATO officials. Various experts, journalists and tech-industry representatives from firms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter were also questioned in nearly 50 hearings. Kalniete said that the inquiry showed that disinformation was only the “visible part of the iceberg.”
“We are so used to our open society that we are not prepared to defend, secure and protect [it], and this is a problem which has to be changed during the next years,” she concluded.
Lawmakers also called on the EU, NATO and the international community to provide further cybersecurity assistance to Ukraine and condemned extremist, populist and anti-EU parties for legitimizing the views of authoritarian governments.
The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, told MEPs on Tuesday he would put forward new sanctions targeting foreign disinformation to EU countries in the Council. The European External Action Service did not comment on a timeline for this.
EU institutions are working on laws to address some of the issues raised in the report, including a content moderation law known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and a cybersecurity rulebook known as the Network and Information Directive (NIS2).
The Commission, social media and messaging services, advertising lobbies, NGOs and fact-checkers are currently negotiating a code of practice on disinformation — which could become binding when the DSA comes into force — expected by the end of March.
The EU’s executive body is also working on a law to tackle media independence; it’s expected for the third quarter of 2022.
This article is part of POLITICO’s premium Tech policy coverage: Pro Technology. Our expert journalism and suite of policy intelligence tools allow you to seamlessly search, track and understand the developments and stakeholders shaping EU Tech policy and driving decisions impacting your industry. Email pro@politico.eu with the code ‘TECH’ for a complimentary trial.
https://ift.tt/dbUgYhv March 10, 2022 at 12:30AM
Clothilde Goujard