Part of CONNECT University Autumn School on Online Platforms Ecosystem

Disinformation has been impacting the lives of Europeans in numerous ways, with recent examples in the areas of vaccination, authoritarianism, climate change, and the war in Ukraine. The session will show the EU’s approach towards disinformation, going from overall mission to practice, touching how this fits the EU online ecosystems and its numerous media platforms.

We will begin with setting the context on why efforts began, give a status-quo on existing issues, and provide updates on the Code on Disinformation and existing bottlenecks in practice and why these must be overcome. The ideal-case scenario will be shown, in order to refresh the vision of EU efforts.
Next, independent third-party fact checkers will give you practical examples of relevant fact checks, and how these are further contributing to communication efforts of the EU. Lastly, we will show what are the most common narratives in disinformation in 2023 and what we might expect to find in the year to come with EU elections just around the corner. We will also show a few of the actual technologies used, an example of how this is done on an online platform, and the developed codebook to support the efforts.

Subtopics:
•             Status-quo & Code of Disinformation updates
•             Fact-checkers, practical examples and communication efforts
•             Main narratives emerging, what to expect in terms of disinformation in 2024
•             Technology used in practice

Speakers:
•             Krisztina STUMP, Head of Unit I4 Media Convergence and Social Media
•             Alberto RABBACHIN, Deputy Head of Unit I4 Media Convergence and Social Media
•             Jens LINGE, Disinformation Team Leader, JRC
•             Carlos HERNÁNDEZ-ECHEVARRÍA - Assistant Director and Head of Public Policy & Institutional Development of Maldita.es