Disinfo Bulletin – Issue n. 13

Welcome to Disinfo Bulletin, your daily update from the EDMO network. Today's most relevant stories: 

🇷🇺🌐 Russian disinformation network “Pravda” grew bigger in the EU, even after its uncovering. The announced EDMO investigation into the Russian network of copycat websites called “Pravda” is out. Despite its uncovering by the Viginum Agency in February, the activation of copycat websites continued, multiplying them in the European online landscape. The EDMO fact-checking network has now completed its detailed investigation into the reach and impact of this extensive Russian disinformation campaign, mapping the operational characteristics and geographical spread of the network and its attempts to sway public discourse ahead of the EU elections.

The impact of these websites, according to the fact-checking organizations that contributed to the investigation, is limited for now. But the broad dissemination of the Pravda network in multiple EU languages raises doubts about the real objectives of the whole operation and concerns about future developments. Read the full text here: Russian disinformation network “Pravda” grew bigger in the EU, even after its uncovering .


🏳️‍🌈👨🏼‍💼 Leveraging anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in the political sphere continues. After the Belgian case mentioned in yesterday’s issue, another case of exploitation of LGBTQ+ stereotypes surfaced in Poland. A video showing people dancing and then boarding a train was falsely labeled as showing “the children of Trzaskowski”, the Mayor of Warsaw. The video was actually shot in Sydney but the false content tries to capitalize on associating the Polish politician with negative anti-LGBTQ+ prejudices. A similar pattern was also recently observed in Slovakia, where the video was captioned as showing “disappointed Korčok voters” leaving Slovakia after the candidate lost the presidential election.


🇪🇺 Awareness and intention to vote in European elections on the rise. According to a recent Eurobarometer survey, European citizens are increasingly aware of the importance of voting in the European elections. Not only do 65% recognize the importance of their country’s EU membership, but a significant 71% also believe that their country has benefited from EU membership. This increased awareness correlates with a notable increase in voting intentions, with 71% of respondents saying they are likely to vote in the upcoming elections (10 percentage points higher than the results of the 2019 survey). Discover all the data here: EP Spring 2024 Survey: Use your vote – Countdown to the European elections .


ℹ️ Tomorrow is a national holiday in Italy, where this newsletter is produced. The next issue of the Disinfo Bulletin will come out on Friday, April 26.


If you have suggestions, comments or requests about this newsletter, you can write to edmo.tfeu2024@eui.eu

This tool gathers material from the inputs of the EDMO fact-checking network, as well as a recently launched public database from the EFCSN network (Elections 24 Check), and the various national EDMO hubs, including community initiatives and insights from individual fact-checking organizations.