Parliamentary Assembly

Draft resolution

1The Parliamentary Assembly acknowledges the radical changes in the media landscape resulting from the convergence of traditional media with the internet and mobile telecommunications, as well as from new forms of media, such as user-generated internet platforms and tools for the automatic aggregation of third-party media content. Within this new context, the reader or viewer becomes an active stakeholder in the information chain by not only selecting information, but also, in many cases, by producing it. While in the past, journalists and editors had a controlling position for the public dissemination of information, new online media offer everybody the possibility to disseminate information and views to the public at large. These new tools thus allow individuals to bypass traditional media and hereby create more media pluralism, for example through investigative media blogs.

2The new media landscape is also impacting on media financing. Whereas subscriptions used to be a solid source of income, free access to internet media has reduced the willingness of users to pay subscription fees. Likewise, advertising revenue has shifted from advertising in print media or broadcasting to targeted internet advertising which uses the profiled personal data of internet users. In the wake of this shift in resources from media outlets to internet service providers and social media, the Assembly is very concerned about the weakening of professional media as well as by an exponential growth in internet media which do not adhere to professional standards of journalism.

3Online media have enabled the global public to become aware of human rights violations and human suffering in places far away that attract little media attention. On the other hand, the internet has enabled powerful commercial stakeholders and political groups to launch concerted action by huge numbers of users of online media. Facts and fair information are not necessarily the backbone of such mobilisations.

4The line between what could be considered a legitimate attempt to express own views seeking to persuade and what is disinformation and manipulation is frequently crossed. The Assembly notes with concern the number of online media campaigns designed to misguide sectors of the public through intentionally biased or false information, of hate campaigns against individuals and also of personal attacks, often in a political context, with the objective of harming democratic political processes.

5The Assembly welcomes the fact that large online media have established a policy whereby users can identify factual errors or factually false posts by third parties on their websites, such as on Facebook News Feed or through Google’s “webpage removal request tool”. Credibility and reliability of online media require that they remove or correct false information.

6Recalling Resolution 1843 (2011) on the protection of privacy and personal data on the internet and online media, the Assembly notes with satisfaction that national courts in Europe have ordered internet search engines to remove pejorative words from their auto-complete function when searching for the names of individuals. This “right to be forgotten” or the right to erase personal data on online media should be strengthened throughout Europe.

7Welcoming Brazilian Law No. 12965 of 23 April 2014 on civil rights on the internet (Marco Civil da internet), as well as the Declaration of internet Rights adopted by the Italian Parliament on 28 July 2015, the Assembly calls on parliaments to discuss online media and journalism and to promulgate general standards for the protection of fundamental freedoms and rights of internet users, journalists and online media in accordance with this resolution.

8The Assembly therefore recommends that:

8.1the member States:

8.1.1initiate, both at the national level and within the Council of Europe, discussions on norms and mechanisms required for preventing the risk of information distortion and manipulation of public opinion, as already suggested in Assembly Resolution 1970 (2014) “Internet and politics: the impact of new information and communication technology on democracy”;

8.1.2enable public service broadcasters to make full use of the technical possibilities offered by online media, ensuring that their internet presence comply with the same high editorial standards as offline; in particular, public service media should exercise the greatest editorial diligence with regard to user-generated or third-party content published on their internet presence;

8.1.3recognise in their law and practice a right of reply or any other equivalent remedy which allows a rapid correction of incorrect information in online and offline media;

8.1.4ensure the traceability by law-enforcement authorities of users of online media when they violate the law; online media must not become a lawless zone through the anonymity of users;

8.1.5include in their school curricula media literacy and support awareness-raising projects and targeted training programmes aimed at promoting critical use of online media;

8.1.6support professional journalistic training, ranging from higher education to lifelong learning, apprenticeships offered by online media as well as “citizen journalism” education for the public at large;

8.2the European Federation of Journalists and the Association of European Journalists call on their members to ensure that:

8.2.1professional journalistic media uphold their editorial standards in their internet presence, including own media content, advertising, third-party content, as well as user-generated content such as user feedback or comments and contributions by users; all third-party content posted on the internet presence of professional media falls under the editorial responsibility of these media;

8.2.2users of online media are informed about the possibilities to address complaints to online journalists, their media outlet or their professional association;

8.3the European Internet Services Providers Association call on its members which provide social media, search engines and news aggregators:

8.3.1to develop ethical quality standards regarding their own transparency and the due diligence of their media services; where commercial, political or other interests might conflict with the neutrality of these media services, the providers of such services should be transparent about such a bias; all providers should set up self-regulatory mechanisms for monitoring those standards and inform the public about their adherence to those standards;

8.3.2to empower their users to report false information to service providers and thus make it known publicly;

8.3.3to voluntarily correct false content or publish a reply in accordance with the right of reply or remove such false content; they are legally obliged to co-operate in combating illegal content;

8.3.4to set up alert mechanisms against people who regularly post insulting or inflammatory text (“trolls”), which empower users to complain about trolls, with a view of excluding them from their fora;

8.4the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance develop self-regulatory standards to ensure that:

8.4.1advertisers and public relations companies identify their own internet presence and their contributions to the internet presence of others; they should in particular disclose to the public the person, organisation or company by whom they are commissioned;

8.4.2advertising and lobbying are barred by professional media on the internet as well as by providers of social media, under their terms of service.