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The
tech companies and trade bodies representing the advertising
industry signed up to a voluntary code of conduct in October to
tackle the spread of fake news, aiming to stave off more
heavy-handed legislation.
Brussels is keen to address the threat of fake news or foreign
interference during campaigning for the European Parliament
elections in May and also for national elections in Belgium,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Poland, Portugal and Ukraine
in the coming months.
Europe's Security Commissioner Julian King criticized the lack
of progress on cracking down on fake news made by the three
companies based on their monthly reports.
"Sadly they have fallen further behind. They need to live up to
the standards we are asking of them, and that they signed up
to," King said in a tweet.
Facebook has not provided details of its actions against
political ads in January nor the number of fake accounts deleted
due to malicious activities targeting the European Union, the
Commission said.
The Commission also found that Google's measures on political
ads were not specific enough nor did the company clarify the
extent to which its actions were taken to address fake news or
other reasons. It did not provide concrete evidence to show that
it had carried out its policies in January, the Commission said.
The EU executive also criticized Twitter for failing to provide
benchmarks to measure its progress on monitoring political ads.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee. Editing by Jane Merriman)
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