Signals & Noise | Merchants of False Hopes and History Hackers

Your Monthly Digest of What Shapes Europe’s Information Integrity Landscape

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September 2026 Overview of Emerging Disinformation Trends

By Paolo Cesarini, Chair of the EDMO Executive Board

Merchants of False Hopes and History Hackers

What the Ceuta crisis, Europe's ultra-nationalist surge and AI fake doctors have in common

At first sight, nothing connects a tragic mass drowning off a Moroccan beach, a German school curriculum, and a synthetic doctor selling prostate supplements on YouTube. Read the last four editions of EDMO's Weekly Pulse, however, and you will see how such diverse issues converge with uncomfortable precision. In the online information space, all of them are the blowback of one business model, applied to different kinds of vulnerability.

Continue reading on the EDMO Blog ❯

Keep Up With the EDMO Weekly Pulse

Fake doctors, real scams: health disinformation exploits desperation | 17 September | Read Here ❯

Rewriting the past, endangering the future | 10 September | Read Here ❯

They’re (not) eating the cats, again | 3 September | Read Here ❯

Ceuta Crisis: First fuelled, then exploited by disinformation | August 27 | Read Here ❯

Narratives of Identity-Based Disinformation in the Netherlands and Flanders and How They Interweave

By Yitsz Neurink, Factchecker and journalist at Nieuwscheckers

Nieuwscheckers examined fact-checks from the Netherlands and Flanders to identify recurring disinformation narratives about migrants and LGBTQ+ people. Its analysis found that both groups are portrayed as threats to national identity, while false claims about migration, public spending and children reinforce harmful stereotypes. The narratives also overlap in conspiracy theories such as the “great replacement” and can gain wider reach when repeated by politicians or mainstream media. The research shows how looking beyond individual false claims can reveal the broader messages driving identity-based disinformation.

Continue reading on the EDMO Blog ❯

Before the Next Big Crisis Hits: Lessons Learned From Ceuta and Collaborations Against Disinformation

By Fundación Maldita.es, IBERIFIER Partner

Following the mass crossing into Ceuta in July 2026, Fundación Maldita.es expanded its response beyond debunking individual claims. Working with Moroccan fact-checkers from the Arab Fact-Checkers Network, it investigated how misleading information about an “open border” spread online and influenced people considering the crossing. The team also tracked plans for another crossing and documented 55 false claims about the crisis. The experience showed why fact-checkers and platforms need clear ways to share information during emergencies, with local expertise built in from the start.

Continue reading on the EDMO Blog ❯

✔ Noise Cancellation On: Recent False Narratives Countered by EDMO Hubs

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BECID: Pension supplement only 6 cents – how a pro-Kremlin blogger is misleading about Latvia | Read Here ❯

GADMO: Ballot boxes must stay closed but do not require seals under election rules | Read Here ❯

HDMO: Did Merkel really admit that she supported mass migration to oust the far right? | Read Here ❯

Find more insights from across Europe in the interactive
Best of Fact-Checking Map and our new Monthly Report ❯

From Insights to Practice: EDMO Training Opportunities and Resources

EDMO Training on Media Literacy by Design: Practical Approaches for Platforms and Users. Can We Do Better?

This session moves from the concept of media literacy as an educational practice to its implementation as a design layer within digital products and platform infrastructures. It focuses on how critical thinking, transparency, and misinformation resilience can be embedded directly into user journeys across social media, search engines, video platforms, messaging systems, and gaming environments.

Join this training session on 7 October ❯

Building Skills to Cut Through the Noise: EDMO Media Literacy Work in Action

Resilient Voices: Continuing the Conversation on Women & Disinformation

Earlier this month, BECID's "Resilient Voices: Women & Disinformation" conference examined how gender and identity are used to manipulate public debate, and how gendered disinformation silenced voices and weakened democratic participation. Follow-up interviews explored platform accountability and support for those targeted; recordings and study materials are now available.

Learn more and watch interviews with speakers ❯

Journalists Facing Students: 40 Encounters Under the Microscope

EDMO BELUX published a study observing classroom encounters between journalists and students, run by Média Animation, RTBF, Lie Detectors and the AJP. Rather than measuring impact, it examined how these exchanges actually unfolded, offering teachers and journalists a more informed basis for future encounters.

Learn more and read the report ❯

Before You Go

Findings and Recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield

Take a look at the important resolution adopted by the European Parliament on 15 September, underlining "EDMO’s crucial role in monitoring and countering disinformation”

Read the resolution ❯

Read the latest monthly report ❯

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