EFCSN, the association of European independent fact-checking organisations, has published its first report as a signatory of the EU Code of Practice on Disinformation. Besides explaining how we are fulfilling our own commitments to the Code, we have also included evidence on how major digital platforms are fulfilling theirs (or not). To do that, we polled fact-checking organisations all over Europe to get an idea of the reality of the platforms’ anti disinformation actions in the different countries.
You can read the report here and see that the level of fulfilment by the different online platforms varies widely. For example, Meta’s services do offer fact-checking in most EU member states and 78% of the European fact-checking organisations had agreements with the company, while only 15% partner with TikTok for those purposes. Not a single fact-checking organisation had an agreement with either YouTube or any of the Microsoft services to provide fact-checking in the platform.
All signatory reports are published on the same day in the EU Code of Practice Transparency Center. In the coming days, EFCSN will review those of the very large online platforms to get a better understanding of how and if they are compliant with their different commitments under the Code and their risk mitigation obligation under the EU Digital Services Act. Our evaluation will be made publicly available in a report later this year.
The European fact-checking community remains committed to the Code of Practice and eager to see more effective policies implemented by its signatories, particularly now that the Digital Services Act is in effect for the services designated as very large online platforms and search engines. EFCSN will continue to represent our members in the Code of Practice Permanent Task Force.
We are happy to assist other signatories and interested parties in any way to help advance the fact-checking commitments of the EU Code of Practice, while continuing to represent and provide opportunities for our verified members. As our community grows and strengthens in Europe, we hope to be ever more helpful to the wider anti-disinformation ecosystem as the challenges are more serious than ever.
About the EFCSN
The European Fact-Checking Standards Network was created by almost 50 fact-checking organisations in Europe that wanted to raise the bar and have the highest standards in ethics, transparency, methodology, and independence. Our members agree to be evaluated by two different independent academic experts every two years on their compliance of the European Code of Standards for Independent Fact-Checking Organisations (2022) and subject themselves to the EFCSN complaint procedure. The Code of Practice recognizes it as an instrument of compliance in Measure 33.1. Since its launch in January 2023, 39 European fact-checking organisations have applied to become part of EFCSN, 22 have been approved, and 17 more are going through the process.
