site.btaBulgaria's Finance, Economy Ministers Discuss Fight against Disinformation with Meta Executives

Bulgaria's Finance Minister Assen Vassilev and Economy and Industry Minister Bogdan Bogdanov discussed the fight against disinformation and manipulated and misleading content at a meeting in Washington with executives of Meta, which owns the social networks Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, the Finance Ministry said.

The ministers of finance, of economy and of energy are paying a working visit to the United States.

The Finance Ministry quoted Vassilev as saying: "Stop the Russian propaganda and do it before the European Parliament elections. Then you will see a qualitative change in the attitude of both Facebook users and EU regulators." He cited examples of pro-European content taken down from the social network after being reported by trolls, while disinformation keeps spreading. Bulgaria is deeply concerned about the Russian disinformation campaign aimed at undermining the credibility of the European institutions, the US and NATO, Vassilev said.

The Meta representatives demonstrated new AI models which help to identify and remove manipulated images and misleading information.

Vassilev also met with SpaceX executives and invited them to visit Bulgaria in the autumn. Tim Hughes, Senior Vice President of Global Business and Government Affairs at SpaceX, expressed a strong interest in Bulgaria, particularly in the context of the already confirmed visit of NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in October 2024, the press release said. It was noted that SpaceX and NASA are working together on a space programme to return to the Moon and on to Mars.