Google to launch anti-misinformation campaign ahead of EU elections
(This Feb. 15 story has been corrected to change the launch date from 'March' to 'spring' in paragraph 5)
By Martin Coulter
LONDON (Reuters) — Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is preparing to launch an anti-misinformation campaign across five countries in the European Union (EU), the company told Reuters ahead of the bloc's parliamentary elections and tougher new rules tackling online content.
In June, EU citizens will elect a new European Parliament to pass policies and laws in the region and lawmakers fear the spread of misinformation online could sway voters.
France, Poland and Germany accused Russia on Monday of putting together an elaborate network of websites to spread pro-Russian propaganda.
Europe's Digital Services Act, which comes into force this week, will require very large online platforms and search engines to do more to tackle illegal content and risks to public security.
From this spring, Google's internal Jigsaw unit which operates to tackle threats to societies, will run a series of animated ads across platforms such as TikTok and YouTube in five EU countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland.
Building on previous campaigns the company has tested in Germany and central Europe, Jigsaw said the new project was an opportunity to reach citizens in countries with some of the largest number of voters in the EU, utilising the company's local expertise in these regions.
The ads will feature so-called «prebunking» techniques, developed in partnership with researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol, aimed at helping viewers identify manipulative content before encountering it.
Viewers watching the ads on YouTube will be asked to fill in a short multiple-choice questionnaire, designed to gauge
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