Despite waves of fake news and foreign interference campaigns, the European elections has proven resilient to disinformation threats, according to at least Commission.
The European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) recorded the highest level of EU-related disinformation on online platforms ever in May, a month before the June European elections.
However, this spate of shady activity did not lead to a “major incident… capable of disrupting the elections”, European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova said before the General Affairs Council on Tuesday at Luxembourg.
She will present the findings of her so-called democracy tour, when she visited 12 EU countries last spring to raise public awareness of electoral manipulation by rogue actors, meeting with officials, regulators and experts: “I felt the pressure to touch the bell of electoral integrity and protect it from manipulation and interference from Putin and others”.
At the beginning of this great election year, there were fears that artificial intelligence could destabilize the process.
Of the 1,321 online publications verified and identified as false by the Elections24Check network, 45% were not addressed by the platforms, with variable response rates. Meta acted in 80% of flagged posts, TikTok in 40%, X in 30% and YouTube in 25%.
According to Jourova, a “whole-of-society approach” is needed, which includes “strategic communication, preventative misinformation narratives, effective digital law enforcement, strong independent media outlets, as well as research, fact-checking and critical thinking.” .
Source: Politico