EU gets ready to take on fake news

BRUSSELS – The European Union’s executive wants online giants like Facebook, Twitter and Google to sign on to a special code of conduct to weed out fake news, which it says has become an increasingly invasive issue during elections.

The European Commission said Thursday it wants online platforms by July to flag sponsored political content, introduce rules to close fake accounts, better monitor disinformation and set up an independent network of fact-checkers.

With the self-regulation tools, the EU Commission wants to counter online manipulation and disinformation increasingly seen in elections.

EU Commissioner Julian King said that “internet platforms have a vital role to play in countering the abuse of their infrastructure by hostile actors and in keeping their users, and society, safe.”