European Parliament 2019-2024

Committee on Petitions

28.9.2020 NOTICE TO MEMBERS

Subject: Petition No 0663/2019 by T. L. (French) on protecting democracy and elections in Europe by avoiding anonymity on social networks

1. Summary of petition

The petitioner points at the generalized influence on democratic elections by non-EU entities via malicious campaigning on social media, using anonymous or fake accounts. Such activities aim at destroying unity at national level or at EU level, based on fake news largely spread around. The petitioner calls for a limitation to the risks these practices pose to democracies and calls for the principle of responsibility to be applied also in the viral world: anonymousness and fake accounts should be banned and only accounts linked to a verified identity should be allowed.

2. Admissibility

Declared admissible on 3 December 2019. Information requested from Commission under Rule 227(6).

3. Commission reply, received on 28 September 2020

The Commission’s observations

The Commission took steps to address disinformation, lack of transparency and other interferences in democratic processes before the 2019 European elections. These centred on a package of measures to secure free and fair elections in Europe.

The election package built among other things on the recognition of the need to further enhance the transparency of paid online political advertisements and communications vis-à-vis citizens of the Union ahead of the elections to the European Parliament, given the prevalence of cases where citizens of the Union were targeted online by political advertisements and

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EN United in diversityEN communications, which were not transparent about their source and purpose or were misrepresented.

As part of the election package, the Recommendation on election cooperation networks, online transparency, protection against cybersecurity incidents and fighting disinformation campaigns in the context of elections to the European Parliament1 promoted a comprehensive approach, aiming among others at fostering the transparency of paid political advertising and communications, data protection compliance, cybersecurity, enhanced cooperation, monitoring and enforcement among competent bodies at the national and European level, engagement with private sector including social media platforms, and awareness raising.

In these broad efforts to ensure the access of citizens to verifiable information and increased accountability by all relevant stakeholders, further measures were also introduced in the Action Plan against Disinformation2 adopted jointly by the Commission and the High Representative/Vice-President. In the Code of Practice on disinformation3, relevant signatories commit inter alia to put in place clear policies regarding fake accounts and the misuse of automated bots on their services and to enforce these policies within the EU. In addition, the Commission has also launched the https://euvsdisinfo.eu website for debunking disinformation. The EU has also set up a Strategic Communication Task Force and EU Hybrid Fusion Cell in the European External Action Service to contribute to effective and fact-based communication, countering disinformation, narrative-positioning and the strengthening of the overall media environment and civil society in their corresponding regions.

The President of the Commission has clearly stated that ‘for us, the protection of a person’s digital identity is the overriding priority’. There is at present no compelling evidence that a ‘real name’ policy would effectively address the spread of disinformation. In contrast, there is also evidence4 showing that online anonymity can protect victims of abuse online or that of vulnerable communities. The Commission takes the view that proportionate and effective actions to tackle disinformation and the spread of illicit content online are possible without imposing strict rules on anonymity.

With regards to digital identity, the Commission has initiated the review of the Electronic Identification and Trust Services (eIDAS) Regulation5, in an ongoing effort to boost the provision of convenient and secure means of identification online, while ensuring full respect of European fundamental values, in particular as regards the protection of personal data and privacy, and without requiring real names in social media.

The challenges at stake require a whole-of-society approach, which respects checks and balances of democratic systems, and ensures the protection of all fundamental rights, including the freedoms of expression and association, as well as the protection of personal data.

Conclusion

1 C(2018) 5949 final. 2 JOIN(2018) 36 final. 3 https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=54454 4 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0155923 5 Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC, OJ L 257, 28.8.2014, p. 73–114.

PE658.743v01-00 2/3 CM\1214359EN.docx EN The Commission has announced a revision of the eIDAS Regulation to improve its effectiveness, extend its benefits to the private sector and promote trusted digital identities for all Europeans.

With regard to online disinformation, the Commission and the High-Representative/Vice- President have recently published the Communication on Tackling COVID-19 Disinformation6, providing a set of actions to tackle the phenomenon of disinformation during the crisis, including a close monitoring of platform specific policies to limit the impact of COVID-19 related disinformation.

The Commission also recently published its report on the 2019 elections to the European Parliament7, which outlines the actions undertaken to protect the 2019 elections from disinformation campaigns and online manipulation, including in cooperation with Member States within the European cooperation network on elections. The Commission will continue to engage on these topics with Member States beyond the 2019 elections, including in the framework of the European Cooperation Network on Elections.

It will also continue to engage with the online platforms, including in the context of the Code of practice on disinformation and the Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech online. The assessment of the Code of Practice was published on 10 September 20208.

The Commission will present by the end of 2020 a European Democracy Action Plan to help improve the resilience of our democracies and address the threats to European elections. The aim will be to counter disinformation and to adapt to evolving threats and manipulations, as well as to support free and independent media.

A new Digital Services Act will be presented to reinforce the single market for digital services and propose targeted and proportionate actions, in particular to increase and harmonise the responsibilities for online platforms and information society services, to reinforce cooperation with authorities and the oversight over platform content policies.

6 JOIN(2020) 8 final. 7 https://ec.europa.eu/info/files/com_2020_252_en.pdf_en 8 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_1568

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