EU DisinfoLab is an independent non-profit at the forefront of understanding and tackling disinformation. At the core of our work is our community – sharing knowledge, learning from each other, and working together to turn insight into action, helping to uphold democratic values and support a healthier information space.
Our vision
We imagine a society in which every individual:
- understands the informational context they live in
- is less susceptible to attempts of manipulation, especially on social media
Our mission
EU DisinfoLab’s mission is to expose disinformation campaigns, raise awareness around disinformation issues, and gather and support civil society resilience to disinformation to foster a stronger information ecosystem.
What we believe in
Independence
We develop and maintain our independence in action and decision. Our editorial choices and policy positions reflect what we think the community countering disinformation could focus on to have a bigger impact. We build our work with credibility and unbiased analysis.
Listening & Learning
We acknowledge that disinformation is a complex phenomenon, and we work hard, with humility, to comprehend what is happening. We have been building our expertise by listening to global and local experts from different backgrounds. We also use these skills to remain agile against the fast-moving pace of disinformation development.
Collective action
We believe that only collective action can overcome the many challenges of disinformation. We bring together different stakeholders, from civil society to governments, from the tech industry to the media ecosystem, so that we can discuss and find solutions together.
Can-Do
Disinformation is putting pressure on our democratic systems and values. But we are inspired by the courage of people speaking out against abuses. We think we can drive change and have an impact. We are not afraid of taking strong positions and exposing behaviours that endanger citizens’ integrity, peaceful coexistence and democratic values.
What we do
Our research is multifaceted: we continuously monitor disinformation activities across all social platforms to identify trends and threats. In addition to this, we use open source intelligence techniques (OSINT) to uncover disinformation networks, strategies, as well as inauthentic behaviour. Our findings are then disseminated via our partnerships with the media and leading experts in the field.
To achieve our vision, we maintain an extensive repository of knowledge on disinformation, including scientific research, up-to-date legal and policy developments on the EU and member state levels, and innovative tools to debunk and fight against disinformation. Our repository provides the disinformation community with needed tools, knowledge, and resources to encourage collaboration.
Based on our own analyses, we regularly propose policy recommendations to the EU institutions and the EU Member States, and help other initiatives ensure that their advocacy efforts are grounded in sound analyses. In this context, we want to offer our expertise to policymakers and jointly develop a multi-stakeholder response – complete with a legal framework that preserves our freedoms and offers sustainable solutions to disinformation.
We organise regular webinars, meetups, and other events to share experiences and tools, plan joint ventures, and keep abreast of critical developments in the field. We put emphasis on building partnerships and fostering collaboration between relevant initiatives not only in Europe, but around the globe too. In view of this, we gather experts and organisations to exchange best practices, cooperate, and develop new approaches to countering disinformation.
Our funding
Fulfilling our mission requires resources that allow us to maintain its independence and provide objective and truthful assessments of the many different threats of misinformation that disrupt civil and rational political discourse.
Financial support is needed to fund our research, prepare reports, and respond to attacks from the perpetrators we expose in our efforts to provide this badly needed public service. Tackling disinformation is an expensive task and comes with a large diversity of risks for the organisation, its board members, and its staff. We not only need funding, but we need funding sources that share our mission to maintain our independence to not become another mouthpiece for a particular or partisan political agenda.