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

🇪🇺 🍌 False stories portraying EU membership as disadvantageous. In recent days, false stories – of a kind already flagged in this bulletin – about the EU imposing totally unfair economic conditions and unreasonable bureaucracy on its member countries has been recirculated in various countries. Among the claims that have been proven false are that the introduction of the euro in Croatia led to a doubling of prices, that the European digital identity will discriminate against citizens, and that the European Central Bank is planning to introduce the Digital Euro for surveillance purposes.

False stories also claimed that the EU even imposes the degree of curvature of bananas (in fact, it was a legislation proposed by trade associations), while Brussels is described as a city with an overwhelming majority of migrants from outside the EU.


🇪🇸 🇦🇷 Disinformation after the visit of Argentine President Javier Milei to Spain. While attending a recent far-right rally in Spain, Argentine president Javier Milei made comments about Begoña Gómez, the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, sparking a diplomatic clash. Milei insinuated that Gómez was “corrupt”, after allegations about Gómez’s alleged ties to private companies receiving public contracts and funds. These allegations also originated a wave of false stories in late April targeting Gomez and Sánchez’s decision to suspend his duties.

Last week, after the diplomatic incident caused by Miley’s words, a new stream of disinformation targeted the issue and Prime Minister Sánchez in particular. In addition to exaggerating Milei’s remarks, false stories claimed ongoing protests against Sánchez and rallies in support of Milei. Exploiting diplomatic tensions, a fake post on X from Sánchez defending his wife and a fake article about their separation were also circulated online.


💪 Strong European sentiment across the continent. 74% of Europeans feel they are EU citizens, according to the latest Standard Eurobarometer survey. The survey also reveals that 77% of European citizens support a common EU defense and security policy, while 71% believe in enhancing the EU’s military equipment production capacity. Additionally, 69% favor a unified foreign policy among member states. About Ukraine, 87% of EU citizens back humanitarian aid, 83% support welcoming refugees, and 72% approve of economic sanctions on Russia. Read more here: Standard Eurobarometer 101 - Spring 2024.

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

What is a “disinformation narrative”? Please find here a short methodological note about the definition used by the EDMO fact-checking network.

The Disinfo Bulletin 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.

Photo: World Economic Forum/Ciaran McCrickard