Europe’s telecoms industry recommends the European Commission urgently fix systemic weaknesses in internet governance and responsibility and restore public trust by updating the European Democracy Action Plan.
Disinformation has had dangerous consequences for the telecoms sector and the vital connectivity it provides to European governments, businesses and society. Since March 2020, for example, disinformation and misinformation falsely linking 5G communications technology to COVID-19 has led to about 200 indiscriminate arson attacks on telecoms base stations and antennae across 11 European countries, and even more incidents of harassment against front line workers.
Europe’s economic recovery and climate targets depend on the revolutionary speed 5G provides. The Commission together with Member States must protect critical infrastructure and educate the public about safety protections embedded in the deployment of 5G in all EU countries.
Members of the GSMA support a co-regulator model on disinformation with the Commission and national authorities armed with meaningful powers to compel all online content sharing service providers to follow the EU Code of Practice on Disinformation. Transparency and clear, regular reporting are also urgently needed.
Additional key recommendations for content platforms:
- Delisting/demotion of false or misleading claims;
- Expeditious removal of any material which amounts to an incentive to commit acts of violence or vandalism;
- Monitoring to ensure that identical instances of the same material are not re-uploaded by any user;
- Measures to ensure that similar instances of the same material are not uploaded by the same user.