Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1143328
13 A myth was circulated in Ger- many to the effect that children would not be able to attach their letters to Santa Claus to their town's Christmas tree, as is customary. Malicious actors used the fire in the Notre Dame Cathe- dral to illustrate the alleged decline of Western and Chris- tian values in Europe. The political crisis and the subsequent collapse of the government in Austria were falsely attributed to the 'Eu- ropean deep state', 'German and Spanish Security Servic- es' and individuals. Stories were also circulated about the irrelevance of Euro- pean Parliament's legislative powers and its control by lob- byists aimed to suppress the voter. These are all forms of fake news or disinformation aimed at attacking European val- ues and to bring uncertainty among European citizens. During the European Coun- cil meeting last month, EU leaders discussed, among other salient issues, a report on disinformation and hybrid threats within the EU com- piled under the Romanian Presidency which ended its Presidency term at the end of last month. The European Commission, along with the European Ex- ternal Action Service (EEAS) and Member States, made it a key priority to address poten- tial threats to secure safe and fair European elections and to help strengthen the resil- ience of the EU's democratic systems. The record-high turnout in the recent European Parlia- ment elections (the turn-out was the highest in two dec- ades) shows how engaged Eu- ropeans want to be in shaping the future of the EU. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to protect citi- zens from disinformation aimed mostly at generating uncertainty, like for instance to sway voters and suppress the election turnout to cite an example. The EU has learnt a lesson from past disinformation campaigns instigated by mali- cious third parties and is be- ing proactive in its approach by calling for sustained ef- forts between Member States and to raise awareness on fake news, increase preparedness and strengthening the resil- ience of the EU's democra- cies. One of the conclusions of the European Council read: "The evolving nature of the threats and the growing risk of malicious interference and online manipulation associ- ated with the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and data-gathering techniques re- quire continuous assessment and an appropriate response." The report hints that an en- hanced joint effort is needed between EU institutions and Member States and includes the need for adequate hu- man and financial resources to better detect, analyse and expose disinformation cam- paigns and raising prepared- ness to address disinforma- tion campaigns at EU and national level. The Commission has recom- mended that Member States adopt the same approach at national level. The report also states that the private sector, in particu- lar online platforms, have a particular responsibility in tackling disinformation as well. Some interesting statistics From the beginning of this year, online platforms started taking action against inau- thentic behaviour to limit the scope of spam and disinfor- mation globally. Google reported to have globally removed more than 3.39 million Youtube chan- nels and 8,600 channels for violations against its spam and impersonation policies. Facebook disabled 2.19 bil- lion fake accounts in the first quarter of 2019 and acted specifically against 1,574 non- EU-based and 168 EU-based pages, groups and accounts engaged in inauthentic be- haviour targeting EU Member States. Twitter challenged almost 77 million spam-like or fake accounts globally. To conclude, the EEAS and the Commission, together with Member States, will further strengthen coopera- tion within the Rapid Alert System, including developing a common methodology for analysis and exposure of dis- information campaigns and stronger partnerships with international partners, such as G7 and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation(NATO). The European Commission and the EEAS are committed to continue their joint efforts to protect our European de- mocracy from disinformation and manipulation. It is our shared responsibil- ity to safeguard EU citizens' right to factual, objective and reliable information. The full report is available at https://bit.ly/2WK7Js9 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 17 JULY 2019 Duncan Barry forms part of the Communications & Events team at MEUSAC OPINION Duncan Barry No room for complacency The private sector, in particular online platforms, have a particular responsibility in tackling disinformation