The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on how we interact, socialise, and work, as many of these activities have moved to online platforms. While there are many benefits to this, risks also exist.

In this context, on 18 May, European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton participated in a debate with Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, to discuss the role and responsibilities of online platforms and their collaboration with governments during the pandemic as well as in the post-corona world. Other topics, such as the increased number of disinformation campaigns, illegal content, and data sharing were also discussed. The debate was organised by the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE).

Commissioner Breton stressed the key role, cooperation between authorities and online platforms, plays not only during the coronavirus outbreak but also in the future. He reminded that the European Commission has been in contact with online platforms since the beginning of the crisis and thanked Facebook for its collaboration. Breton regretted, however, that there has been a surge of disinformation campaigns and fake news, yet no effective measures taken, saying, “With disinformation, we will never do enough – this is the disease of the century.” He also reminded that while access to data is important for the platforms, competition and data privacy rules need to be respected.

Read the full article here.