Online disinformation has evolved into a major societal problem that weakens democracy by diminishing citizens' ability to access trustworthy digital information. Despite the massive media coverage of the phenomenon in recent years, effective solutions are still not available to combat the increasing pollution of our digital information flows.

DATALAB has long worked to support the fight against disinformation, most recently as part of the H2020-project SOMA and with the establishment of the disinformation specific research center EU REMID. This work continues as part of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) project launched this month to help counter the threat of online disinformation. 

The EDMO project is funded by the European Union and will promote scientific knowledge on online disinformation, advance the development of EU fact-checking services, and pave the way for trusted sharing of much needed data for research. Last but not least, EDMO will also support public authorities in charge of monitoring digital media and developing new policies.

DATALAB’s contributions to the project will revolve around the research center EU REMID that will be responsible for mapping, supporting and coordinating research activities on disinformation at a European level. EU REMID will map the European academic activities that study disinformation at scale from the viewpoint of different academic disciplines, identify the most appropriate academic institutions and organisations, and create updated repositories of relevant scientific articles and policy papers. 

DATALAB is part of a diverse and competent consortium that will run the project, including the international centre for doctorate and post-doctorate studies and research European University Institute based in Florence, Italy, the Greek information technology company Athens Technology Centre, and the Italy-based experienced fact-checking organization Pagella Politica. The first phase of the project runs until the end of 2022, with funding of €2,5 million.

You can learn about the project on EDMO’s website here or follow the project on EDMO's Twitter profile here