Online platforms need regulating, Jourova warns

"I want it to achieve clear goals: strengthen the media sector, make platforms more accountable and protect our democratic process," Jourova said at a Brussels event on disinformation.

The vice-president in charge of values and transparency said that the EU's efforts against organised manipulation and disinformation need to be "more mature".

"We need to help creating digital ecosystem that will be able to defend and promote democracy," she said.

"For me it is clear that to achieve this, to achieve a healthy, balanced use of technology, you will also need some degree of regulation, in particular addressed to the platforms," Jourova pointed out.

"We need to push them [platforms] to become more accountable and responsible," she added.

Giving an example, Jourova said she wanted to address political advertising, specifically, in the upcoming action plan - to increase transparency and legal certainty on how the content is channelled to the public and who owns the algorithms behind that.

She said the EU is "increasingly concerned about disinformation by actors within member states".

"Some campaigns are driven for profit, some others by 'useful idiots'. So my aim is also to increase the cost of malign disinformation campaigns. Today, it is simply too cheap," Jourova stressed.

Jourova said the plan would address media freedom and media pluralism, access to data by researchers and foreign interference as well.

Jourova pointed to Russia and China using disinformation to undermine European democracy.

"They have weaponised manipulation," she said.

"We will fight back and defend ourselves. We will provide political leadership, more funding and creativity and take on these difficult issues," Jourova pledged.

The action plan on European democracy is part of the EU executive's work programme for this year.

Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic told MEPs on Thursday in the European parliament that the action plan will address disinformation, political campaigning, free and independent media and freedom of speech.

He also said the commission will update the charter of fundamental rights to address AI and human rights issues, such as facial recognition.

Jourova had pledged at her confirmation hearing last year that she would help protect journalists by creating better protection and legal aid for them.

On Thursday, Jourova pledged to do more for media literacy.

"Lying is a problem, but the bigger problem is that we believe in those lies. We need to raise awareness about how disinformation works and invest in media literacy," she also said.