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

👨🏼‍🌾 Disinformation about the farmers’ protest is still circulating, claiming that the category is being penalized by institutions. After a few days of protests for the Spanish farmers, an old video has been circulated in the country and captioned as showing the police repressing the current rallies. In Slovenia, the number of agricultural workers has been diminished and the number of employees in the Ministry of Agriculture has been exaggerated, suggesting that the country prefers to invest in public administration rather than in the agricultural sector. In Poland, the EU has been accused of forcing the flooding of peatlands, and it has also been claimed that lab-grown meat is made of cancer cells. In February, false claims were also made that the sale of artificial meat had been approved by the EU. These false stories were detected in PL, ES, SI.


🚶🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Anti-migration rhetoric is at the forefront of the political stage in Central Europe. Since the region is a key player for various migratory patterns and has seen notable migration from the war in Ukraine, this issue is certain to play a large role in local elections and those on the EU level. In the Czech Republic, political figures have made hostile comments regarding migration and openly criticized the new EU pact on migration, while political parties have targeted migration as a key issue. In Poland, a recent poll showed that 70% of the population feels that the EU is handling migration negatively, although responses mostly affirmed support for the European Union in general.

CEDMO’s Q4 2024 fact-checking brief shows that disinformation surrounding migration has played key roles in elections within the region, and as campaigning picks up for EU parliamentary elections, harmful, untrue narratives are likely to multiply, demonizing migrants coming to or through Central Europe and alienating voter bases.


🎯 Check out the latest issue of the EDMO Weekly Insights and Early Warnings ahead of the June elections. This week’s edition looks at the anti-LGBTQ+ narratives exploited to target politicians and a new form of climate denialism. It also includes early warnings on what kind of disinformation is to expect after the US new aid package to Ukraine and recently approved new EU fiscal rules. Read the full text here: WEEKLY INSIGHTS and EARLY WARNINGS, n. 3

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.