BEUC NEWS - 03.10.2018

The Sounding Board of the Multistakeholder Forum on Disinformation rejected a Code of Practice proposed by major online platforms, ad exchanges and advertisers.

The Sounding Board – of which BEUC is a member – concluded that the Code of Practice falls short of meaningful self-regulation as it contains no common approach, no significant commitments, no measurable objectives and no compliance or enforcement tools.

Monique Goyens, Director General of BEUC, concluded that online platforms, which make money from advertisements displayed alongside fake news articles and posts, are just not well-placed to tackle this problem.

The Sounding Board has proposed that based on the work of independent fact-checkers and academic researchers, during a test period in the run-up to the forthcoming European elections a regular evaluation of the situation should be carried out.

Opinion of the Sounding Board