EU: Facebook, Google, Twitter Failed to Fight Fake News

Coasting

The European Union is displeased with tech giants Google, Facebook, and Twitter — because all three corporations have failed to prevent the spread of fake news, according to Reuters.

In October, the three companies agreed to a voluntary pledge to fight the political misinformation that proliferated on their platforms, as an alternative to harsher legislation being enacted against them in Europe. But based on the companies’ monthly progress reports, European officials now feel they aren’t trying hard enough.

Progress Report

The European Commission published a statement on Thursday that laid out exactly where each of the three tech giants fell short.

Facebook, for instance, hasn’t provided any information on how it ramped up scrutiny over political ads. The data that Google shared is too vague and incomplete to tell whether or not the company actually addressed its problems, and Twitter decided not to share any information with the European Commission during its January report.

Not Mad, Just Disappointed

According to the statement, which was penned by King and a team of other commissioners, the companies have until year’s end to get their act together before Europe will consider imposing stricter regulations on them.

“Sadly they have fallen further behind,” tweeted Julian King, Europe’s Security Commissioner, on Thursday. “They need to live up to the standards we are asking of them.”

READ MORE: Google, Facebook, Twitter fail to live up to fake news pledge [Reuters]

More on fake news: Facebook Just Shut Down Dozens of Fake Pages

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