Crisp signs up to the EU Code of Practice on Disinformation

Crisp actively collaborated with EU policy makers, Big Tech, the Safety Tech industry and Civil Society partners to draft this important guidance. Crisp has also joined the EU Commission’s Permanent Taskforce to continue working together with all parties, so that we can help to ensure a safer online world for all.

Initially launched in 2018, the Code brought together industry organizations who pledged to undertake a range of voluntary commitments to counter disinformation. At the core of the EU strategy against disinformation, the Code has proven itself to be an effective tool to limit the spread of disinformation, including during election periods and crises such as the coronavirus pandemic.

The reinforced Code builds on lessons learnt over the last four years, particularly around the pandemic and the continued rise in active use of disinformation in recent global events. The new Code sets out detailed and specific commitments by platforms and industry to fight disinformation and marks a key step towards a safer and more trustworthy online environment.

Key changes in the new Code contain commitments to:

• Cut financial incentives for spreading disinformation;
• Cover new manipulative behaviors such as fake accounts, bots or malicious deep fakes spreading disinformation;
• Empower users with better tools to recognise, understand and flag disinformation;
• Ensure transparent political advertising by allowing users to easily recognise political ads thanks to better labeling and information on sponsors, spend and display period;
• Provide improved support to researchers by giving them better access to platforms' data.

Věra Jourová, Vice-President for Values and Transparency at the EU Commission, said: “We now have very significant commitments to reduce the impact of disinformation online and much more robust tools to measure how these are implemented across the EU in all countries and in all its languages. Users will also have better tools to flag disinformation and understand what they are seeing.”

John-Orr Hanna, Chief Intelligence Officer at Crisp, said: “At Crisp, we have long been committed to combatting disinformation, within the wider context of online harms. We continue to focus each day on making the internet a safer place for all. We are honored to be a part of this process to strengthen the fight against disinformation, alongside the EU Commission and key industry and civil society partners.”

The full list of signatories to the Code of Practice are (in alphabetical order):

Adobe; Avaaz; Clubhouse; Crisp; Demagog; DOT Europe; European Association of Communication Agencies (EACA); Faktograf; Globsec; Google; Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB Europe; Kinzen; Kreativitet & Kommunikation; Logically; Maldita.es; MediaMath; Meta; Microsoft; Neeva; Newsback; NewsGuard; PagellaPoltica; Reporters without Borders (RSF); Seznam; The Bright App; The GARM Initiative; TikTok; Twitch; Twitter; Vimeo; VOST Europe; WhoTargetsMe; World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).