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The 2022 Strengthened Code of Practice Disinformation is the result of the work carried out by several stakeholders (the signatories), which include Twitter, Google, and Microsoft, that are committed to demonetizing the dissemination of disinformation; guaranteeing transparency of political advertising; enhancing cooperation with fact-checkers; and facilitating researchers access to data.
The strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation has been signed and presented on the 16 June 2022 by 34 signatories who have joined the revision process of the 2018 Code.
It represents a self-regulatory standard to fight disinformation adopted by relevant stakeholders (list of the signatories).
This new Code, which is not endorsed by the European Commission, will become part of a broader regulatory framework, in combination with the legislation on Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising and the Digital Services Act. For signatories that are Very Large Online Platforms, the Code aims to become a mitigation measure and a Code of Conduct recognized under the co-regulatory framework of the Digital Services Act.
The strengthened Code of Practice, which could be downloaded at the bottom of this page, contains 44 commitments and 128 specific measures, in the following areas.
Demonetisation
Transparency of political advertising
Ensuring the integrity of services
Empowering users
Empowering researchers
Empowering the fact-checking community
Transparency center and Task-force
Strengthened Monitoring framework
For an insightful discussion on disinformation, misinformation, malinformation, and the adverse effects that such phenomena may exert on our society see the works of "Whistling at the Fake: The Crucial Role of Whistleblowers in Countering Disinformation," a multidisciplinary research project funded by NATO's Public Diplomacy Division as part of its resilience projects.
The project aimed at addressing the gap in citizen comprehension of the forms, means, and impacts of misinformation and disinformation, as well as at empowering the public with the tools through which to identify fake news, including appropriate responses to such behaviors. Furthermore, the project focused on the crucial role that whistleblowers and other knowledgeable insiders play in exposing misleading and hostile information activities and increasing public resilience to acts of this nature.
The project, which was led by its Principal Investigator Dr. Costantino Grasso, Associate Professor in Business and Law at Manchester Law School, was managed by The Manchester Metropolitan University and supported by several prestigious academic institutions including Boston College Law School, the Università degli Studi di Padova, and Tilburg University as well as a group of internationally renowned Impact Partners - Constantine Cannon LLP, the Center for the Study of Democracy, and Government Accountability Project.
All the documents produced during the project as well as the video recordings of all the events are available online on the Corporate Crime Observatory: https://www.corporatecrime.co.uk/whistling-at-the-fake