Google says it's stepping up efforts to combat online "misinformation" before European Union citizens vote on June 6-9 in elections to choose 720 new members of the European Parliament for the next five years.

The initiative, described as preventative debunking, or "prebunking," includes a series of short videos highlighting the techniques common to many misleading claims. The videos will appear as advertisements on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, or TikTok starting in May.

It's supposed to teach people how to spot false claims before they encounter them.

"It works like a vaccine," Beth Goldberg, the head of research at Google's internal Jigsaw unit, told Time Magazine.

Prebunking, she added, "helps people to gain mental defenses proactively."

Jon Roozenbeek, an assistant professor in psychology and security at King's College London who has spent years working with Jigsaw on prebunking, told Time the campaign works best when users watch the videos.

Still, "You can't really expect miracles in a sense that, all of a sudden after one of these videos, people begin to behave completely differently online." he said. "It's just way too much to expect from a psychological intervention that is as light touch as this.

"We're not doubtful that the effect is real; it's just you can argue over whether it's large enough," Roozenbeek said. "That's the main discussion that we're having."

Experts warn that misinformation likely be worse in the coming presidential election contest. The safeguards that attempted to counter the bogus claims the last time are eroding, while the tools and systems that create and spread them are only getting stronger.

Meanwhile, generative artificial intelligence tools have made it far cheaper and easier to spread the kind of misinformation that can mislead voters and potentially influence elections. And social media companies that once invested heavily in correcting the record have shifted their priorities.

"I expect a tsunami of misinformation," said Oren Etzioni, an artificial intelligence expert and professor emeritus at the University of Washington. "I can't prove that. I hope to be proven wrong. But the ingredients are there, and I am completely terrified."

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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