EU leaders agreed at the two-day summit in Brussels to step up efforts to counter disinformation ahead of this year's European elections, the European Council said Friday
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd March, 2019) EU leaders agreed at the two-day summit in Brussels to step up efforts to counter disinformation ahead of this year's European elections, the European Council said Friday."Welcoming the important work accomplished in this respect in the past months, the European Council calls for further enhanced coordinated efforts to address the internal and external aspects of disinformation and protect the European and national elections across the EU," the statement reads.
The leaders underscored information-sharing as the key to countering fake news, calling the establishment of a rapid alert system an important step forward, and urged social networks and other private actors to ensure high standards of responsibility and transparency.
With just over two months left until the European Parliament elections, the European Union has scaled up efforts to respond to potential disinformation and other perceived hybrid warfare tactics. It launched the rapid alert system this week to facilitate the sharing of data on suspected disinformation campaigns in real time.
