Verification initiatives in the scenario of misinformation: Actants for integrated plans with multi-level strategies

Abstract

The spread of misinformation has become standard practice in today's communicative scene. Both individual users and organizations disseminate false content for economic or political benefits. The response against these strategies has been to develop initiatives to both verify false information as well as prevent it from being spread. This article presents actions adopted by different actors to stop the spread of fake news. These actors are European institutions, national governments, the media, and major technology companies. Thus, this paper takes a comprehensive look at how misinformation is addressed in the European Union by studying reports and legislative texts and reviewing the growth of fact-checking initiatives.