In an age of increasing distrust in mainstream media, fact-checkers, who are tasked with clarifying and debunking misleading claims, now also find themselves the targets of that same distrust. By James Thomas.

Regulators suspect foul play in how far-right firebrand Călin Georgescu used the Chinese-owned app to sway voters. By Pieter Haeck, Carmen Paun, Laurens Cerulus and Seb Starcevic.

Ranging from our most recent session on practical strategies for successful influencer collaborations in media literacy to past sessions on elections integrity or journalistic coverage of the European Parliament elections, our new Training page now offers a growing selection of videos for you to watch. Stay tuned as more sessions will be regularly added, and don’t miss our upcoming session on LinkedIn (see details below).

Defining disinformation is essential to propose concrete measures to identify and, possibly, moderate harmful online content. But how are different actors approaching this challenge – and to what effect? This report investigates how disinformation and related concepts are defined in relevant EU policies, national legislation, as well as the policies and community guidelines of major VLOPs, and highlights existing challenges.

Presidential hopeful rose from obscurity to win first round of election thanks to social media campaign the government says was improper. By Joseph Menn.

The 2024 global election cycle unfolded against the backdrop of rapid advancements in generative AI. While these technologies hold immense potential for enhancing communication and accessibility, they also pose new challenges to the integrity of democratic processes. In our latest blog post, Aqsa Farooq and Claes de Vreese revisit 2024 and share key take-aways from a recent EDMO online panel.

Take a look at our new monthly brief with the latest disinformation insights from across the EU, based on 1.781 fact-checking articles by 34 organisations. The main disinformation phenomenon in November were the catastrophic floods that hit southern Spain, partly contributing to the increase in climate-related disinformation that almost doubled in two months, passing from 7% in September to 13% in November.

Deepfakes that defame political opponents and calls to vote on platforms where political advertising is officially banned: in the super election year of 2024, several instances showed that platforms are not doing enough to fight mis- and disinformation, despite having announced relevant policies. This is the conclusion of the second CoP Monitor published by GADMO, focusing on the 2024 EU elections as well as German state elections.

Inspired by Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, this year’s CEDMO consortium annual conference addressed the contemporary challenge of disinformation. In Bradbury’s novel, firemen ignite books to suppress knowledge, ensuring that critical thinking is extinguished. The title refers to the temperature at which paper burns, symbolising the destruction of truth and the power that controls knowledge.

The fact-checking highlights of the EDMO Hubs can be found in an interactive map updated on a monthly basis. In December, the Hubs chose their best fact-checking items on disinformation targeting a wide range of topics, such as anti-Ukraine narratives, health hoaxes, climate denialism, alleged mandatory military service, the Romanian elections, and more.

In October 2023, EDMO initiated a pilot project designed to test potential processes and procedures for implementation of researcher data access provisions under Article 40 of the DSA. This report presents the key outcomes, takeaways, and recommendations from the pilot project. It is designed, in part, to provide feedback on the Article 40 draft Delegated Act, which the European Commission published on 29 October 2024.

In a one-year process, over 100 media literacy experts from more than 50 countries contributed to the EDMO Guidelines for Effective Media Literacy, which were presented at the 2024 UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week. Endorsed by over 70 organisations worldwide already, the guidelines have been designed for use by anyone involved in the development of media literacy initiatives – civil society, educators, policy makers, those in the media or tech industries.

Ranging from multifaceted online harassment to physical threats and harm: the increasing prevalence of abuse targeting professionals in Europe who work to counter disinformation is alarming. Our new survey draws on insights from EDMO’s network including our 14 hubs, aiming to map these abuses and assess existing preventive and protective measures. A staggering 66 % of respondents reported experiencing adversarial actions.

Stay informed about ongoing developments in Romania, get ready for Germany’s snap elections, and understand what happened in Ireland, Moldova, and Georgia: our growing elections page offers expert insights straight from the EDMO Hubs and members of our network. Cited by leading media outlets including The Washington Post and Politico, our experts help track what’s going on – and work hard to safeguard election integrity.

Ahead of the European Parliament elections, EDMO launched a training series on election integrity that was attended by over a hundred participants from the fact-checking sector, academia, journalism and civil society. The first training module focused on election integrity on online platforms. The second was aimed at journalists covering the upcoming elections. Find out more and watch the recordings.

Based on two white papers on fact-checking by the University of Amsterdam published in December 2022 and October 2023, BENEDMO produced a fact-check roadmap for fact-checkers and the interested public. The step-by-step map indicates what readers should pay attention to and what they can do if they suspect that false information is being deliberately spread.

The University of Bergen has studied the challenges fact-checkers face when dealing with war propaganda, in terms of resources and tools, amid language barriers and geographical distances. The findings also highlight that fact-checkers continue to face criticism and harassment while being exposed to violent content. Blog post by Laurence Dierickx & Carl-Gustav Lindén.

The fact-checking highlights of the EDMO Hubs can be found in an interactive map updated on a monthly basis. In July, the Hubs chose their best fact-checking items on disinformation targeting a wide range of topics, such as the integrity of EU elections, EU policies, climate change, the war in Ukraine, LGBTQIA+ and migration.

EDMO BELUX 2.0, a multidisciplinary hub uniting fact-checkers, media, analysts, and educators to combat disinformation in Belgium and Luxembourg, was launched. Building on its track record of detecting and exposing harmful disinformation, it empowers media, civil society, and government in countering disinformation.

The July Edition of the Media Literacy Monthly Digest showcases diverse activities: an innovative Internet safety drill for preschoolers, an AI guide for seniors, diverse studies and research reports on media and factual relativism, educational gaps and needs in Italy, and young people’s digital practices in France.