Understanding and fighting disinformation: Commission’s €9 million call for national fact-checking hubs

Today, the Commission launches a call for proposals for €9 million to further strengthen its support to fact-checkers and researchers, as foreseen in the recent Joint Communication to reinforce actions against disinformation. It will extend the reach of the European Digital Media Observatory through the establishment of national fact-checking hubs. These hubs will analyse disinformation campaigns and their impact on society, promote media literacy and monitor online platforms’ policies. Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová, said: “A resilient and critical society is what we need to fight against disinformation. This is an important strand of our strategy and for this, we need to support free and independent media, fact checkers and researchers. We will do so by reinforcing the European Digital Media Observatory, backing the development of national digital media research hubs that will improves our ability to understand the spread of online disinformation.” Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market, added: “I welcome the launch of this call to establish national fact-checking hubs to support and extend the work of the European Digital Media Observatory. False and misleading information takes different national nuances from one Member State to another. That is why EU funds are need to help tackle false information not only at an EU level, but also on a national level.” The observatory kick-started its activities on 1 June 2020 and supports the creation and growth of a multidisciplinary community composed of fact-checkers, academic researchers and other relevant stakeholders with expertise in the field of online disinformation. As such, it contributes to a deeper understanding of disinformation relevant actors and dynamics, as well as their impact on society. This second phase of the project is funded through the Connecting Europe Facility financing programme. The deadline for submissions is 5 November 2020. To learn more, click here.