Introduction

• Author: Jordan Hill - Malin Carlberg - Richard Procee - Iva Plasilova - Marion Goubet
• Pages: 7-8

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 1: INTRODUCTION

This document forms the Final Report for the “Assessment of the implementation of the

Code of Practice on Disinformation, SMART 2019/0041”. This study was commissioned

by the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG

CNECT) of the European Commission and was carried out by VVA Economics & Policy

with the support of DisinfoLab.

This document is structured as follows:

• Chapter 2 provides a brief description of the study methodology. This description

is supported by complementary material, including the study’s Evaluation Plan,

provided in the report Annexes.

• Chapter 3 deals with the wider context of the study subject, outlining a summary

of the emergence of the phenomenon that is ‘disinformation’, along with current

and future challenges.

• Chapter 4 provides an introduction to the Code of Practice.

• Chapter 5 outlines the findings according to the evaluation criteria of the study,

starting with Effectiveness.

• Chapter 6 gives an overview of Member State initiatives that aim to tackle

disinformation.

• Chapter 7 presents the study’s proposed metrics and key performance indicators

(KPI) to strengthen the foundation for future monitoring and evaluation activities

of the Code.

• Chapter 8 summarises the study’s conclusions.

• Supporting Annexes provide further evidence and information on the study

activities.

Objectives and scope

The overarching objective of this study was to support the evaluation of the Code of

Practice’s effectiveness being performed by the European Commission. A key task was

to gather data and information and analyse the implementation of the Code of Practice

by its Signatories.

More specifically, the study had three operational objectives:

1. The development of an Evaluation Plan to measure and assess the effectiveness

of achieving the Code’s objectives by its Signatories.

2. The implementation of the Evaluation Plan once approved by the Commission.

3. A qualitative and quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of the

implementation of the Code of Practice in 2019. Where relevant, the study

indicates areas where the Signatories can improve their implementation of the

Code and its objectives.

The study focused on the 13 entities that are currently the Signatories of the Code of

Practice on Disinformation. These include online platforms and business associations.