The signatories of the 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation, including all major online platforms (Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, Twitter), have launched a new Transparency Centre and published their baseline reports on how they turn the commitments from the Code into practice.

The European Commission says that the new Transparency Centre is a single repository where everyone can access and download the information, thus ensuring visibility and accountability of signatories’ efforts to fight disinformation and implement the commitments in the Code.

For the first time, the Commission says, platforms are providing, through publication of their baseline reports, insight and data on a national level, including how much advertising revenue flowing to disinformation perpetrators was prevented, the number or value of political ads accepted and labelled or rejected, instances of manipulative behaviour detected (i.e. creation and use of fake accounts) and information on the impact of fact-checking.

All signatories submitted their reports on time, using an agreed reporting template, which aims to address all commitments and measures the platforms signed up to. However, the Commission says that Twitter’s report was short of data, with no information on commitments to empower the fact-checking community. On this, Commissioner Jourová said she was “disappointed to see that Twitter report lags behind others and I expect a more serious commitment to their obligations stemming from the Code”.

The next set of reports from major online platform signatories is due in July 2023, providing further insight on the Code’s implementation and more stable figures as it will cover six months-worth of data. To read the Commission’s press release in full and for links to both the Transparency Centre and the Code of Practice, click here.