In the EU, man trends and narratives of disinformation remain stable in March
The 23 organizations* part of the EDMO fact-checking network that contributed to this brief published a total of 1.006 fact-checking articles in March 2023.
Out of these articles, 163 (16%) focused on Ukraine-related disinformation; 90 (9%) focused on COVID-19-related disinformation; and 94 (9%) focused on climate-change-related disinformation. These percentages are similar to the ones recorded in the past month.
* Organizations that contributed to this brief: 15min, AFP, Correctiv, Delfi, Demagog.cz, Demagog.pl, Eesti Päevaleht, EFE Verifica, Ellinika Hoaxes, Eurocomunicare, Faktabaari, Freedom House Romania, Greece Fact Checking, Knack, Lakmusz, Maldita, Nieuwscheckers, PagellaPolitica/Facta, Pravda, The Journal Fact-Check, TjekDet, Verificat, VRTNWS
Disinformation generated by AI is low, for now, but spread across the EU
As written in an EDMO analysis recently published, generative AI marks the beginning of a new era for disinformation. With this monthly brief, EDMO starts its monitoring of disinformation generated by AI.
In March 2023, out of the 1.006 articles published by the 23 organizations part of the EDMO fact-
checking network that contributed to this brief, 47 were about AI-generated disinformation (5%).
The percentage is quite low, but the few false contents produced with AI circulated widely across the
EU (see slide n. 7).
Other relevant topics of disinformation in March:
The EU is still in the disinformation’s gunsight: false news about edible insects are still well spread in many countries, and other viral false news accuse the Union of wasting money in lavish or unnecessary expenses and of supporting Islamic fanaticism, as well as its politicians to be drug addicts.- Protests in France against pension reform are a topic of disinformation in the country but also in many other EU member states. The vast majority of detected false news are old videos and images miscaptioned and decontextualized, to exaggerate the participation in the demonstrations and/or police brutality.
- Migrants, foreigners and Muslims are consistently the object of false news promoting xenophobia and racism in many EU countries.
- The electoral process in different countries that recently held elections (Estonia), or that are about to hold elections (Spain), was the target of disinformation campaigns,
sometimes supported by political actors, claiming that elections were stolen and there were massive frauds. This phenomenon has been often detected in the EU in the past few years, after the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Read the full paper HERE
The information contained in this brief was collected via a questionnaire sent to the fact-checking organizations that are part of the EDMO fact-checking network. Reference period: 1-31 March 2023. Number of respondents: 23.
Main editor of this brief: Tommaso Canetta, Pagella Politica/Facta. For further information: t.canetta@pagellapolitica.it. EDMO has received funding from the European Union under Contract number: “LC-01464044”
