A European Commission (EC) official asserted that government “disinformation” censorship is essential to ensure individuals receive factual information at the World Economic Forum’s Davos conference on Thursday.
EC Vice-President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourová made the remarks during a discussion on “Defending Truth” with fellow panelists from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The European Union (EU) has a regulatory agenda that cracks down on “disinformation” worldwide, as it applies to large online platforms that are incentivized to implement global policies. (RELATED: The EU’s New Tech Law Could Threaten Americans’ Speech Online)
“Disinformation is a very powerful tool,” Jourová asserted. “[The EU is] focusing on improving of the system where the people will get the facts right. We don’t speak about opinions. We are not correcting anyone’s opinions or language. Yeah? This is about the facts. We are taking [actions] at the EU level to equip the people with the facts so that they can make their autonomous choice.”
“Disinformation is a very powerful tool.”@VeraJourova (@EU_Commission) explains why disinformation is a security threat around the world. #wef24 pic.twitter.com/4ejFq2ck6h
— World Economic Forum (@wef) January 18, 2024
“We have all the Big Tech under the commitment of the code of practice against disinformation,” she added, highlighting the “fact-checking” they must do to comply with the 2022 code. Signatories of the code include tech giants like Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok.
Jourová also talked about getting ahead of “disinformation” by “prebunking” it as well as the importance of “awareness raising,” which she described as “lowering of the absorption capacity in the society to believe the lies.” She stressed “this is long-term, a long-distance [solution] but we have to do it.”
The “last resort solution is law enforcement,” she concluded, bringing up the recent uptick in antisemitism.
Center for Democracy and Technology CEO Alexandra Reeve Givens called on Big Tech to increase their online election censorship efforts at Davos on Tuesday, stating she believes it is the “duty” of search engines and social media platforms to boost information from “trusted” sources during a panel on “Protecting Democracy against Bots and Plots.” She also expressed worries over multiple platforms downsizing personnel dedicated to content moderation.
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