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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in entrance of Google emblem on this illustration image, April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photograph
(This Feb. 15 story has been corrected to vary the launch date from ‘March’ to ‘spring’ in paragraph 5)
By Martin Coulter
LONDON (Reuters) – Google (NASDAQ:) is making ready to launch an anti-misinformation marketing campaign throughout 5 nations within the European Union (EU), the corporate instructed Reuters forward of the bloc’s parliamentary elections and harder new guidelines tackling on-line content material.
In June, EU residents will elect a brand new European Parliament to go insurance policies and legal guidelines within the area and lawmakers worry the unfold of misinformation on-line may sway voters.
France, Poland and Germany accused Russia on Monday of placing collectively an elaborate community of internet sites to unfold pro-Russian propaganda.
Europe’s Digital Companies Act, which comes into drive this week, would require very giant on-line platforms and serps to do extra to deal with unlawful content material and dangers to public safety.
From this spring, Google’s inside Jigsaw unit which operates to deal with threats to societies, will run a collection of animated advertisements throughout platforms reminiscent of TikTok and YouTube in 5 EU nations: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland.
Constructing on earlier campaigns the corporate has examined in Germany and central Europe, Jigsaw stated the brand new undertaking was a possibility to succeed in residents in nations with among the largest variety of voters within the EU, utilising the corporate’s native experience in these areas.
The advertisements will function so-called “prebunking” strategies, developed in partnership with researchers on the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol, geared toward serving to viewers determine manipulative content material earlier than encountering it.
Viewers watching the advertisements on YouTube will probably be requested to fill in a brief multiple-choice questionnaire, designed to gauge what they’ve realized about misinformation.
“We have spent a lot time having these actually polarised debates. Our democracy is at stake, and the temperature simply retains getting larger and better,” stated Beth Goldberg, head of analysis at Jigsaw.
“Prebunking is the one approach, not less than that I’ve seen, that works equally successfully throughout the political spectrum,” Goldberg stated.
Different measures to regulate misinformation like truth checking can add to polarisation as a result of they arrive after the data has already unfold, she added.
Final month, an investigation performed by the EEAS (European Union Exterior Motion Service) uncovered 750 incidents of deceptive info being intentionally unfold by overseas actors, many voicing help for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Jigsaw’s advertisements will probably be translated into all 24 official EU languages, the corporate stated.
The marketing campaign will run for not less than one month, with a view to increase it primarily based on attain and efficiency. Outcomes from the marketing campaign, together with survey responses and the variety of folks reached, are anticipated to be printed in summer time 2024.
