8 European leaders urge big tech to end disinformation amid Russia's war in Ukraine

Amid growing concerns about the insidious effects of disinformation coming from Russia, the prime ministers of eight European countries, including Ukraine, Moldova and Poland, have signed a open letter asking the chief executives of major social media companies to take more aggressive action to stop the spread of fake news on their platforms.

The letter published on Wednesday calls on business leaders including Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to take action “against misinformation that undermines our peace and stability” and to end efforts on their platforms “to weaken our support for the 'Ukraine in the midst of Russia's war of aggression'.

"Technology platforms like yours have become virtual battlefields, and hostile foreign powers use them to spread false narratives that contradict the reporting of factual news outlets," the letter said. "Paid ads and artificial amplification on Meta platforms, including Facebook, are often used to call for social unrest, bring violence to the streets, and destabilize governments."

The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia also signed the plea, which was released to coincide with the Democracy Summit led by the White House in Washington. Letter is addressed to "Big Tech" CEOs.

National Leaders Call on Tech Companies to Dedicate More Resources to Responding to False Narratives; adjust algorithms to prioritize accuracy and truthfulness over engagement; and to clearly mark deepfakes and automated posts, including those produced by artificial intelligence. They also called for more coordinated government regulation and better self-policing of tech companies.

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