Debate: Tackling Covid- disinformation and the impact on freedom of expression
Date: THURSDAY, 18 JUNE 2020
Speaker: Nikolina Brnjac
Language: EN

To address these risks the Council has strongly emphasised the need to intensify joint efforts in the fight against disinformation through close cooperation between EU institutions, Member States and social platforms. There is consensus in the Council about the need for more effective methods to address disinformation without hindering the protection of fundamental rights. Indeed, our strong and coordinated action against disinformation must be in line with our democratic values, including freedom of expression and free and plural media.  All institutions, Member States and civil society are called to act against the plague of the infodemic. Much has been done in the EU institutions, in cooperation with Member States. The External Action Service’s StratCom Task Force and the rapid alert system, which was set up in the run-up to the European elections last year, track disinformation. We support and welcome these efforts.  A comprehensive approach at all levels is needed to address the challenges of disinformation. This must include monitoring and analysis of disinformation and manipulative interfaces, enforcement of European data protection rules, efforts to enhance pluralistic media, professional journalism and media literacy, as well as awareness among citizens.  EU institutions and Member States should continue working with social media platforms to achieve higher standards of responsibility, transparency and accountability on addressing disinformation. The whole society approach is also stressed by the recent Joint Communication ‘Tackling COVID—19 disinformation – Getting the facts right’, which takes stock of the measures taken in response to disinformation around the coronavirus pandemic and proposes further action.  The Presidency takes COVID-19 disinformation very seriously and we have taken steps to ensure close cooperation with Member State authorities, with EU institutions, bodies and agencies, and with international organisations such as the WHO. As early as 28 January, we activated the European Union’s integrated political crisis response arrangements regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing together relevant experts from the Member States and the EU institutions in the fields of health, consular affairs and civil protection. In this framework, disinformation has been one of the topics we addressed. We believe that disinformation campaigns could also be highly disruptive in the respect of easing restrictive measures and of searching for a vaccine and a cure. We have also addressed the issue in other parliaments, such as in our Horizontal Working Party on Enhancing Resilience and Countering Hybrid Threats, in the Political and Security Committee and in the EU–US Justice and Home Affairs ministerial videoconference.  We are conscious that disinformation is here to stay and we all need to work together to maintain our vigilance, strengthen our toolbox and resilience, and continue our efforts to address this issue internally and beyond our EU borders. COVID—related disinformation is aggravating existing divisions in the eastern and southern neighbourhood and in the Western Balkans. At the Zaghreb EU—Western Balkans summit on 6 May, the leaders of the EU and Western Balkans partners agreed to reinforce their cooperation in addressing disinformation and other hybrid activities. As I said at the beginning, when fighting disinformation we must not forget the balance between the right of citizens to be properly informed and safeguarding the freedom of speech and the media. In the wake of the COVID—19 pandemic, unprecedented circumstances led many Member States to adopt far—reaching measures which were key to acting rapidly and effectively protecting the health of the citizens.  Many of these measures had a significant impact on fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law. It is therefore essential to make sure that they remain proportionate to the objective, limited in time and subject to regular scrutiny. The emergency measures taken to tackle the pandemic must not be used as a pretext to censor news and informal information coverage or to violate fundamental rights. It is critical that governments support the work of the independent media, which are crucial allies in the fight against COVID—19. The democratic debate, media freedom and the role of civil society deserves special attention. Upholding these values is a priority for the Council.