In March 2019, ahead of the European parliamentary elections, the Portuguese parliament discussed fake news and misinformation, with the Socialist Party (PS) demanding cybersecurity measures from the government to guarantee safe elections. This was the first time Portugal’s MPs addressed this issue, since the disinformation phenomenon sparked growing awareness during the UK’s Brexit referendum, allegedly influenced by disinformation. The initiative came from the PS, which scheduled a two-hour debate on “Tackling misinformation to defend democracy”. Portugal has not yet produced any legislation on this issue, but there have been several initiatives on media literacy.
