EU Election: Google To Launch Anti-Misinformation campaign

Google is planning to launch an anti-misinformation campaign across five European Union (EU) countries ahead of the bloc’s parliamentary elections and with tougher online content rules.

France, Poland, and Germany accused Russia on Monday of orchestrating an intricate network of websites to disseminate pro-Russian propaganda.

Europe’s Digital Services Act, which takes effect this week, will compel very large online platforms and search engines to intensify efforts to combat illegal content and threats to public security.

From March, Google’s internal Jigsaw unit, dedicated to addressing societal threats, will initiate a series of animated advertisements across platforms like TikTok and YouTube in five EU countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland.

Expanding upon previous campaigns tested in Germany and central Europe, Jigsaw stated that this new project presents an opportunity to engage citizens in countries with some of the largest voter populations in the EU, leveraging the company’s local expertise in these regions.

The advertisements will incorporate “prebunking” techniques, developed in partnership with researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol, aimed at helping viewers identify manipulative content before encountering it.

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Viewers watching the ads on YouTube will be prompted to complete a brief, multiple-choice questionnaire designed to assess their understanding of misinformation.

“We’ve spent so much time having these really polarised debates. Our democracy is at stake, and the temperature just keeps getting higher and higher,” said Beth Goldberg, head of research at Jigsaw.

“Prebunking is the only technique, at least that I’ve seen, that works equally effectively across the political spectrum,” Goldberg said.

Other measures to control misinformation, like fact-checking, can add to polarisation because they come after the information has already spread, she added.

Last month, an investigation conducted by the European Union External Action Service (EEAS) revealed 750 incidents of deliberately spreading misleading information by foreign actors, with many expressing support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to the company, Jigsaw’s ads will be translated into all 24 official EU languages.

The campaign is slated to run for at least one month, with the possibility of extensions based on its reach and performance. Results from the campaign, including survey responses and the number of people reached, are expected to be published in the summer of 2024.