The European Digital Media Observatory is the answer to online disinformation in the EU.
The Digital Europe Programme (DEP) helps to fund the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO). It’s the EU’s largest interdisciplinary network to counter disinformation. The goal is to enhance and enable collaboration among an independent multinational community of stakeholders tackling online disinformation. Its network consists of 14 national and multinational hubs that detect, analyse, and expose disinformation as well as provide support to authorities and the media.
Main Facts
EU Co-funding
€30 million
Duration
Started in June 2020
Partnerships
14 EDMO hubs
Why was EDMO initialised?
EDMO was created in order to answer to the challenge of online disinformation across the EU. Disinformation poses a substantial and ongoing threat to democracy. Disinformation can be used to divide the public in debates over policy (e.g., migration, climate change), to manipulate or suppress participation in electoral processes, and to attack the legitimacy of democratic institutions.
Solutions developed by EDMO
The 14 hubs help to identify disinformation, uproot its sources, and dilute its impact, support fact checking and quality information, and connect related expert communities. Some concrete examples are:
- Newsletter and analysis of disinformation regarding the EU elections
- Campaigns to foster critical thinking and increase digital literacy
- Podcast and video campaigns about disinformation
- Repositories of fact-checked content
Results
EDMO works to strengthen and enable collaboration among a multidisciplinary community of stakeholders tackling online disinformation. It brings together fact-checkers, who cooperate on the EDMO digital platform, media literacy experts, and academic researchers to understand and analyse disinformation. That happens in collaboration with media organisations and media literacy practitioners. EDMO and its network have greatly contributed to fight disinformation campaigns during the Covid-19, the ongoing War in Ukraine and the Hams-Israel conflict. EDMO is currently focusing its effort to detect and alert the public about disinformation campaigns aiming to influence the EU elections.
Impact
- Improving public awareness of disinformation detection and analysis
- Trainings for different stakeholders to help them understand and tackle online disinformation
- Designing effective responses for national audiences across the EU by using the hubs specific knowledge of local information environments
- EDMO as a reference for data and policies on disinformation
Testimonial
"Supporting the European Digital Media Observatory is crucial for combating disinformation threats across the European Union. EDMO's network of nationally-based hubs staffed by independent experts allows us to monitor disinformation patterns at a granular level in each Member State. Our multidisciplinary teams have the linguistic capabilities and local contextual knowledge to detect emerging narratives, analyse their spread, and assess the real-world impacts.”
Paolo Cesarini, Programme Director of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO)
The Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) is an EU programme aimed at integrating digital technology into businesses, public services, and everyday life.
It targets six areas: high-performance computing, AI, cybersecurity, digital skills, widespread digital adoption, and semiconductors. DIGITAL acquires digital technologies, partners with European entities to create practical solutions, and provides outcomes that boost Europe's digital independence and competitiveness.