
29 Nov
Fight against disinformation: Arcom report on the measures taken by online platforms
Arcom, the French media regulator, noted a “nuanced improvement” in the amount of information reported by the twelve online platform operators, notices the annual report entitled “Combating Information Manipulation: A Report on the Actions Taken by Online Platforms”.
Online platform operators are subject to the law of 22 December 2018 on the fight against the manipulation of information, which imposes to them a duty of cooperation with Arco mans also obligations of means and transparency towards their users.
The report finds that digital platforms “need to be qualified by a very heterogeneous level of transparency in the reporting exercise,” noting that TikTok, Yahoo and, to a lesser extent, Google “stand out particularly in the absence of efficient information enabling Arcom to analyse the relevance and effectiveness of the means and measures implemented to combat the manipulation of information”.
L’Arcom deplores the lack of transparency of digital platforms, and underlined that “the less virtuous operators are those who remain the most opaque, thus avoiding any criticism other than the fundamental one of their lack of cooperation and transparency.”
The digital platforms are criticized because of their low commitment to media literacy regarding the risks of misinformation for their users, but also the limits on researchers’ access to their data.
The French regulator believes, on the other hand, that the adoption of the European Digital Services Act (DSA) will change the situation to the extent that the text provides for provisions relating to “the risks raised by online platforms”.
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