"Our citizens deserve and need a clear and honest message about the disinformation threats. Exposing disinformation campaigns by external actors is an important service provided by the European External Action Service (EEAS) to the European public," the paper said, according to Politico, who got hold of the document.

In the light of reports last month that EU diplomats softened criticism of Chinese disinformation in particular, following doubts about an earlier version of facts contained in the EEAS  report on the topic, the four countries' governments said that they wanted the organization to ensure empirical and academic rigor unhindered by political considerations, in order to maintain public trust in the organization.

The paper also stressed the importance of avoiding online content take-down which was unjustified or non-transparent, adding that the current self-regulatory approach was insufficient to the task, and recommending independent evaluation.

The paper also noted that while vigilance was needed over disinformation campaigns of Russian origin, this did not mean that more resources and attention should not be paid to misinformation from China, as European Commission Vice Presidents Josep Borrell, responsible for foreign affairs amd Věra Jourová (Values and Transparency), and commissioner Thierry Breton (internal market), prepare a joint communique on tackling coronavirus-related disinformation for next week.

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