European Commission highlights disinformation trends and tools for resilience

False stories, claims and narratives on immigration have been a prevalent disinformation trend in Ireland in recent months. This reflects a wider European disinformation wave throughout the summer that pushed false stories seeking to exploit dramatic events to drive anti-immigrant sentiment and alarmism, among other disinformation narratives.

Leading Irish and EU experts today discussed the latest developments on disinformation at the event “Disinformation Trends in the EU and in Ireland and How to Counter them”, organised by the European Commission Representation in Ireland, supported by European Movement Ireland. The event aimed to raise awareness of key media literacy initiatives and fact-checking tools available for journalists and citizens to navigate disinformation.

According to a Eurobarometer survey in spring this year, 71% of Europeans say they often come across disinformation and 86% of Europeans agree that the rapid spread of disinformation is a major problem for democracy. The Digital News Report 2024 found that 64% of the Irish public is concerned about what is real and what is fake on the internet, compared to 50% in the rest of Europe.

Dr. Eileen Culloty, Assistant Professor in the School of Communications at DCU and Project Coordinator at EDMO Ireland, Dorina Nastase, Coordinator, Strategic Communication Task Force, European Commission, and Art O’Leary, Chief Executive, The Electoral Commission, analysed the current disinformation trends and challenges from EU and Irish perspectives. The practical aspects of identifying and fighting disinformation and improving media literacy were discussed by Lorna Hayes, Deputy CEO and Head of Policy and Research at European Movement Ireland, Susan Daly, Managing Director at the Journal Media, Martina Chapman, National Coordinator of Media Literacy Ireland and Dualta Ó Broin, Director of Public Policy at Meta Ireland

Barbara Nolan, Head of the European Commission Representation in Ireland said: 

The European Commission is actively monitoring EU policy areas which could be targeted by disinformation actors and implements a long-term strategy built on cooperation between fact-checkers, journalists, civil society and academia to raise public awareness and media literacy. It is an area in which President von der Leyen has set out an important role for Ireland’s Commissioner-Designate for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law, Michael McGrath." 

Lorna Hayes, Head of Policy and Research and Deputy CEO European Movement Ireland said: 

“At European Movement Ireland, we have been monitoring trends around misinformation and disinformation in Ireland. As part of our recent research, we identified dangerous and false narratives targeted at refugees and migrants and connected to misinformation surrounding the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. Today’s event highlighted the practical tools available to people that will help to stop the spread of false and harmful disinformation in Ireland and across Europe more broadly.” 

In her mission letter to Commissioner-designate Michael McGrath, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen says:

• I want you to lead the work on a new European Democracy Shield, to address the most severe risks to democracy in the EU and build on the work already done on the European Democracy Action Plan and the Defence of Democracy Package.
• You will work with other Members of College to step up our fight against foreign information manipulation and interference. We must strengthen our situational awareness and bolster our collective ability to detect, analyse and proactively counter threats. You will coordinate the work on disinformation and work with other Members of College to step up work on digital and media literacy and on prevention through pre-bunking.

Ireland is one of 14 hubs established as part of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) networks, one of the EU initiatives for tackling disinformation. DCU’s Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society (FuJo) and the Journal’s Fact Check are part of the network. The network is tasked with monitoring disinformation, providing fact-checking resources, developing public media literacy and informing policy.