Central and East European governments urge tech firms to fight disinformation

Prime ministers of Central and East European countries have signed an open letter urging tech companies to take concrete steps to promote accuracy over engagement on their platforms. The letter is a call to action against foreign information manipulation and interference, given that social media have been used as platforms to spread disinformation campaigns in these countries.

Some of the proposed actions include: refraining from accepting payments from those previously sanctioned, improving the accuracy and transparency of algorithms (rather than focusing on promoting content), and providing researchers free or affordable access to platforms’ data to understand the tactics of manipulative campaigns.

The letter was signed by the prime ministers of Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and released by Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s office.