Filenews 6 December 2021 - by Theano Thiopoulou
For another six months until June 2022, the monitoring of online disinformation about the coronavirus has been extended and millions of advertisements with misleading content about COVID have been removed, according to the European Commission. Blocked ads in Cyprus are 38,648, blocked bids 98 and blocked URLs are 364.
Since January 2020, more than 103 million coronavirus-related ads - including shopping advertisements - have been blocked or removed by EU-based advertisers and buyers for policy violations, including rising prices, exploiting global medical supply shortages, making misleading claims about treatments and fake vaccine doses.
More than 1,960 accounts, including those from EU-based advertisers, have also been suspended for trying to circumvent systems including advertisements and offers related to Covid. More than 19,000 URLs with Covid-related content have also been taken, in line with the policy on misleading content, for harmful health claims.
The latest reports show that YouTube has expanded its medical disinformation policy to include claims about vaccines that contradict the consensus of local health authorities or the World Health Organization. TikTok increased the number of keywords/hashtags that can trigger tags and banners related to COVID-19 and vaccines. Twitter updated its policy on misleading information about vaccines. Microsoft's LinkedIn has expanded cooperation with influencers in Europe to spread authoritative messages about vaccination. Meta/Facebook has updated its policies globally regarding the vaccination of children against COVID-19, for example false content that claims that vaccines do not exist for children or that they are unsafe and untested.
Recently, 26 new signatory candidates joined the drafting process to strengthen the code of practice on disinformation, which is now expected by the end of March 2022. The extended timetable will allow the signatories to draw up a strong instrument with detailed commitments. The Commission urges the signatories to carry out the review swiftly, in compliance with its guidelines, and to step up their efforts on the monitoring programme, taking into account the recent recommendations of the European Audiovisual Media Regulators Group (ERGA).
Actions on disinformation
By October 2021, the actions taken to combat COVID-19-related disinformation are:
● Twitter suspended 254 accounts and removed 4,544 pieces of content worldwide in September, while in October 819 accounts were suspended and 3,574 pieces of content were removed worldwide for violating the misleading information policy on COVID-19. In September and October, Twitter discontinued and removed 84 promoted Tweets in line with its COVID-19 advertising policy worldwide.
● TikTok's report shows that while the number of videos tagged with the vaccine tag decreased, the number of videos tagged with the COVID tag increased drastically: from 1,261 in August to 6,818 in September and 9,948 in October. This trend is opposite to the previous two months, when the number of videos tagged with the vaccine increased and COVID-tagged videos decreased. TikTok also removed 686 videos that violate covid-19-related terms of service in September and 584 videos in October.
● Microsoft reports that the experience of Bing COVID-19 had a total of 4. 003. 694 projections in the EU between September and October, a marked decrease since August, but according to July data (1 952 412 in September and 2 057 282 in October) . In Microsoft Advertising, the number of ads that violate covid advertising policies banned from reaching EU users reached 435,922 in September and 909,713 in October.
● Google reports that it took action for 19. 338 URLs in AdSense (+2,859 compared to the previous period). The number of ads blocked or removed related to COVID-19 increased by more than 500,000 compared to the previous period, with the largest increase in Spain (+252,914).
● Meta/Facebook reports that in September 2021 over 120,000 pieces of content were removed in the EU for violating misinformation policies about COVID-19 and vaccines on Facebook and Instagram (+10,000 compared to July). In October, that number increased to 140,000 pieces of content (-20,000 compared to August).
