Initiatives at member state level

• Author: Jordan Hill - Malin Carlberg - Richard Procee - Iva Plasilova - Marion Goubet
• Pages: 75-88

Assessment of th e im plem en tat ion o f t he Code of Pract ice on Disinform at ion

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Dir ect or at e-Gen eral for Comm uni catio ns Net wor ks, Co nten t an d Tech nolog y

CHAPTER 6: INITIATIVES AT MEMBER STATE LEVEL

In parallel with action at EU level, legislative and policy measures to combat

disinformation are also being implemented at Member State level. Most of these

legislation and policy measures aimed at tackling disinformation were developed during

the years 2018-2019.

This time period saw an increase of communication and debate around the phenomenon

of disinformation, and it is thus safe to say that the enhanced awareness on the matter

has led the EU Member States to take initiative.

Implementation of non-legislative measures to combat disinformation

Most EU Member States rely mainly on policy measures to combat disinformation and

have not taken any legislative measures to date. This is the case notably for the Nordic

countries. Most of the policy measures taken by these Member States consist of media

literacy programmes implemented in schools and high schools. Denmark, for example,

adopted an Action plan to strengthen safeguards against any interference on Danish

democracy and society in May 2019. The Danish authorities bolstered their efforts to get

ahead of disinformation problems by re-purposing some media literacy material from

Sweden. In order to avoid falling for misinformation, the government is distributing

brochures with specific tips for recognising such information.

Similarly, in Finland no specific legislative act has been adopted to counter

disinformation either, however, the Finnish government also invested in strengthening

media literacy using partnerships between schools and fact-checkers. Some Finnish

schools, for example, partnered with Finnish fact-checking agency Faktabaari (FactBar)

to develop a digital literacy “toolkit” for elementary to high school students teaching about

the EU elections.

Latvia is another Member State where the focus of the government has been placed on

the implementation of policy measures and media literacy.127 The government in Latvia

has been working hard to build media literacy, particularly within its population. School

workshops that teach Latvian teachers and students how to differentiate fact from fiction

have risen in recent years.128

Cyprus also adopted a similar path. The independent regulatory authority responsible

for monitoring the audio-visual media services in Cyprus, the Cyprus Radio Television

Authority, designed and implemented media literacy programmes to educate high school

students to recognise disinformation. One of the workshops designed for these students

concentrates on the critical evaluation of the content disseminated through the various

forms of mass media, and mainly through social media and online sites. Various

127 https://www.disinfo.eu/2019/06/19/eu-g7-regulations/

128 https://lka.edu.lv/en/international-cooperation/international-projects/nordplus-projects/film-and-media-

education/professional-development-conference-teachers/?edit_off