BRUSSELS • China and Russia were blamed for spewing out false and misleading online information about Covid-19, in a European Union report that seeks to stem the "unprecedented" spread of fake news amid the pandemic.
The two nations are among foreign actors that sought to "undermine democratic debate" and enhance their own image through "targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns around Covid-19 in the EU", the bloc's executive authority said in the report published on Wednesday.
"It would be too dangerous not to act," European Commission (EC) vice-president Vera Jourova told reporters in Brussels.
She said the pandemic "showed us that false information could do serious harm, could kill citizens even and could undermine the public authorities' response and therefore also weaken the measures taken".
The commission has in recent months stepped up pressure on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to help stem the flow of misleading content about the virus, vaccines or alleged cures on their sites.
It is part of a broader goal to fight hate speech and disinformation online that could lead to new EU regulation to make technology giants more accountable and responsible.
The EU said in the report there has been an "unprecedented infodemic" that has fed on people's most basic anxieties, as most of them were forced to stay socially confined and revert to an increased use of social media to access information.
"Given the novelty of the virus, gaps in knowledge have proven to be an ideal breeding ground for false or misleading narratives to spread."
The EU's findings on China and Russia are based on a separate study by the commission's foreign and diplomatic wing, which said it had evidence of a coordinated push by official Chinese sources to deflect blame for the pandemic and promote its response to the virus.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has worked with Ms Jourova over the past few weeks on the latest plans.
The accusations against Russia and China reflect EU efforts to find an "external enemy" to paper over European divisions exposed by the pandemic, said Mr Leonid Slutsky, head of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian Lower House of Parliament, according to state news service RIA Novosti.
China dismissed the report yesterday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said: "This false accusation against China is itself disinformation. We never bragged or relied on disinformation to improve our image. The virus is the common enemy of mankind, and disinformation is also a common enemy of mankind."
The EC's Ms Jourova said state-sponsored foreign propaganda preys on people's fears and doubts. A "geopolitical EU can only materialise if we are assertive and name the issues we face. But we also have to put our own house in order" and step up strategic communication to prevent others from claiming this space online, she added.
Online platforms will have a key role to play by being more transparent about what is happening online and where misleading information is coming from.
A code of conduct on disinformation that five tech giants, including Twitter, Facebook and Google, have signed so far is only a first step, said Ms Jourova.
She added that ByteDance's social media app TikTok said it also plans to sign the code, and that the EU is in negotiations with Facebook's WhatsApp too.
"We only know as much as platforms tell us," she said, adding that "this is not good enough; platforms have to open up".
BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
