Facebook, Twitter, and Google still aren’t doing enough to battle disinformation on their platforms, European Union officials said in a statement released this week.

As part of a plan to fight disinformation on social media, the companies signed on to a voluntary proposal to crack down on the problem last year, which included making plans to increase transparency and fight fake accounts. The European Commission is now publicizing monthly progress reports on the topic, and has released the first, covering January.

In the statement, the officials criticized the companies’ responses, saying “we need to see more progress.”

“Platforms have not provided enough details showing that new policies and tools are being deployed in a timely manner and with sufficient resources across all EU Member States,” the statement said. “The reports provide too little information on the actual results of the measures already taken.”

Facebook, Twitter, and Google were each singled out for not providing enough information in their reports to officials, who said in today’s statement that they remain “concerned by the situation.” The statement pressed the platforms to move faster ahead of European Parliament elections in May.

Officials in the EU and United States have continued to question what role fake news and foreign interference have played in influencing democratic elections. In an accompanying op-ed in The Guardian this week, EU commissioners said, “if we do not see sufficient long-term progress, we reserve the right to reconsider our policy options – including possible regulation.”

https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/1/18246526/facebook-twitter-google-social-media-disinformation-europe