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Two recommended reads for your weekend: 1️⃣ #Germany five weeks before the #election: in the first edition of its weekly pre-election updates, our Hub German-Austrian Digital Media Observatory (GADMO) shows which recently uncovered fabricated stories poison the climate and spread disinformation: https://lnkd.in/evXM8u5E Debunked by GADMO's factchecking partners AFP, APA - Austria Presse Agentur, CORRECTIV, and dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH, false content ❌ spreads wrong poll numbers with manipulated graphs ❌ insists that President Steinmeier said he would annul the election if the result did not go his way ❌ suggests that CDU candidate Friedrich Merz said he wouldn't be afraid of nuclear war with Russia ❌ claims that Green candidate Robert Habeck is filing charges in over a thousand cases because of an offensive emoji ❌ warns that ballot boxes without locks or seals mean electoral fraud, which is not the case Stay tuned for the next GADMO update next week. 2️⃣ #Disinformation in the #EU: our new monthly brief examines viral false content on #Syria, the attack at the #Magdeburg Christmas market, #Ukraine and President #Zelensky, the #MiddleEast, and further issues: https://lnkd.in/eHrZZx2v The four false stories with the widest circulation in the EU in December, based on the factcheckers' reports, were: ❌ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky bought the hotel Palace des Neiges in the ski resort of Courchevel, France, for 88 million Euro (88 being a Nazi numerical code) ❌ Hollywood stars (Mel Gibson, Denzel Washington, Robert Downey Jr. etc) joined an “anti-Woke” production studio ❌ Highly contagious unknown virus kills 79 in Congo after the distribution of a vaccine through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ❌ Trump wants to ban all of George Soros' organisations from American politics Members of the EDMO factchecking network that have contributed to this brief: 15 min, AFP, APA - Austria Presse Agentur, CORRECTIV, Delfi, DemagogCZ z.s., Demagog.SK, Stowarzyszenie Demagog, dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH, Deutsche Welle, Eesti Päevaleht, EFE Verifica, Ellinika Hoaxes, Factcheck.Vlaanderen, Factico, FactReview, Faktisk.no, Funky Citizens, Infoveritas, Lakmusz, Maldita.es, Newtral, Oštro, Pagella Politica, Facta News, TheJournal.ie Fact-Check, Polígrafo, Stowarzyszenie Pravda, Re:Baltica, TjekDet, Radiotelevisión Española, and Verificat. Editors: Enzo Panizio and Tommaso Canetta.

👀 Read the results of the joint #research we carried out on #factual #relativism and #conspiracytheories with CEDMO & BRODhub 👇 #HDMO #EDMOeu European Digital Media Observatory Political Capital

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀❓ New on the EDMO Blog: Matteo Bergamini MBE, CEO and Founder of Shout Out UK (SOUK), shares the approach of last year's DISMISS campaign, led by SOUK in collaboration with Ofcom and The Electoral Commission around the UK General Election. 👉 By foregrounding engaging digital content and co-creating with young audiences, the campaign achieved a reach of over 9 million, improved media literacy skills among its target audience, and fostered behavioural change. Short-form videos and animations proved especially effective, while key partnerships amplified impact. 💡 Offering central lessons learned and recommendations for future campaigns, the blog post explores how DISMISS might serve as a blueprint for scaleable, audience-centred media literacy initiatives, emphasising collaboration, platform-specific strategies, and long-term engagement to counter misinformation and empower a generation of informed, critical thinkers. 🔗 Read the post: https://lnkd.in/eRGcEJ-8

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: 𝐄𝐃𝐌𝐎 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭-𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐚’𝐬 𝐔-𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced this week that, starting in the US, the company will “get rid of fact-checkers” by progressively phasing out its third-party fact-checking programme, and instead following the much-criticized “community notes” approach introduced by Elon Musk on X. This move is in stark contrast with Mr. Zuckerberg’s previous commitment to make his services a safer place for all users. His stated aim to “prioritise free speech” is politically motivated and an alibi to divert public attention away from the many instances of information manipulation and foreign interference that for years have wreaked havoc on the services of his company. By misrepresenting independent and professional fact-checking organisations as biased censors, he seeks to justify a decision that will deprive users of one important tool for them to critically assess the information they receive through Meta’s services, while being aware of narratives deliberately aimed at sapping civic discourse and democratic processes. He also undermines Meta’s past efforts to cope with a variety of service infrastructure manipulations and inauthentic behaviour that are exploited by disinformation agents to mislead users and silence legitimate voices. At a deeper level, Mr. Zuckerberg’s statement is an attack on the whole policy framework that the EU has established to promote an enabling environment for freedom of expression in the digital sphere: an environment where citizens can not only impart, but also freely seek and receive information upon which they can rely and freely form their own opinions. Moreover, Mr. Zuckerberg’s intervention is likely to worsen the climate of hostility and heighten the risks of abuse that independent journalists and fact-checking professionals already face. At the European Digital Media Observatory, we take this daunting start of 2025 as an opportunity to double down on our efforts to explain and promote the evidence-based EU approach to countering disinformation and engage with all relevant parties, including Meta, to ensure that wrongly motivated setbacks will not undermine society-wide efforts to protect the integrity of our digital communication environment. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eeRqg9RB

The EFCSN is disappointed by Meta’s decision to end its Third Party Fact-Checking Program and condemns its CEO’s statements linking fact-checking with censorship. Fact-checking is not censorship, but rather fact-checking adds to public debates and provides context for citizens to make up their own minds. The EFCSN encourages the European Union to stand strong in the face of such political pressure and not be deterred in its efforts to stop the spread of mis- and disinformation. Read the full statement: https://lnkd.in/dmEc6bcw

📣 #Researchers, please use/share this opportunity and join our first EDMO Training Session of 2025! As part of the EDMO Training Series for researchers, LinkedIn representatives Sara Harrington and Maud Sacquet will provide an introduction to #LinkedIn’s current data and tools to support independent academic research under the Digital Services Act (#DSA). The session will include an overview of the application process for access to LinkedIn data under Article 40 (12) and an overview of available LinkedIn data and tools. 📨 Apply by 9/1/2025, 4 PM CET 👉 Find out more about this session, the EDMO Training Programme, and our dedicated series for researchers: https://lnkd.in/ewdZKcUv

❓Do you want to know what our hub did in 2024? How many fact-checks, research and media literacy training we carried out and with what results? 👉 Check out our 2nd annual report: https://lnkd.in/d8abuCaF #fighting #disinformation #HDMO European Digital Media Observatory Political Capital Mertek Media Monitor AFP

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🔎 Political Capital conducted research on factual relativism earlier. This time - together with other hubs - did a comparative survey on disinformation and factual relativism. 👀 Check out the report to learn more about Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia and Bulgaria 👇 https://lnkd.in/dGTzJGgq #fighting #disinformation #research #EDMOeu European Digital Media Observatory CEDMO BRODhub