Vice President for Values and Transparency Ms. Viera Yurova said: "As the spread of the Omicron variant is a major challenge, the efforts of the signatory parties to support vaccination campaigns in the EU are vital. However, there is still room for improvement. The next reports will be submitted in March. By then, signatories should have delivered the new strengthened code, which I expect to address existing weaknesses, including by applying strict criteria for all languages."
Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton added the following: "I thank the platforms that remain committed to this regular monitoring exercise to combat misinformation about coronavirus. As we now enter the final stages of the adoption of the Digital Services Act, I expect the platforms to step up their work and immediately adopt a strong code of conduct consistent with our new European digital handbook."
TikTok reported that videos tagged with a vaccine tag, which is being placed on its channels in Europe, tripled from 90,000 in October to 266,000 in December. Google updated its searchable tables of information on COVID-19 vaccination available in all 27 countries and has begun providing information on childhood vaccination as well.
Facebook removed a misinformation and harassment network targeting health professionals, journalists and elected officials that was run by an anti-vaccination conspiracy movement.
Microsoft allowed some vaccine ads by public authorities as part of its updated policies, which resulted in around 733,000 views in the EU between November and December.
Twitter reported updates to the design of tags for misleading coronavirus and vaccine-related tweets to make them easier to identify.
For more details, see the platforms' reports here. Discussions to strengthen the code of conduct continue. The new code, according to the guidance document published in June, should be submitted by the end of March.
[/P]Source: skai.gr
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
