Mobilizing Communities to Combat Disinformation

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) hosted its fourth conference in Lisbon on May 22, 2025, highlighting civil society’s crucial role in combating the growing threat of disinformation across Europe. The event, titled “Citizens can defeat disinformation,” brought together European officials, media experts, and civil society representatives to address strategies for building societal resilience against false information.

The conference, organized in partnership with the Portuguese Economic and Social Council and supported by the European Commission Representation and European Parliament Office in Lisbon, comes at a time when disinformation has emerged as a significant challenge to democratic institutions across the continent.

“Not only misinformation and lack of information but also an excess of information could be enormous challenges for modern societies,” said Luís Pais Antunes, President of the Portuguese Economic and Social Council, emphasizing the need for civil society engagement in tackling these issues.

EESC President Oliver Röpke underscored the importance of citizen empowerment, stating, “To counter disinformation, we must empower citizens and civil society not only as watchdogs but also as active participants in democratic resilience.” He emphasized the EESC’s commitment to a “multi-layered participatory approach” that prioritizes transparency, cooperation, and trust.

Sofia Moreira De Sousa, who heads the European Commission Representation in Portugal, warned that disinformation threatens fundamental EU principles. “Freedom of choice is impossible to achieve if our choices are biased and based on false information,” she said.

The European Union has implemented several measures to combat disinformation, including the European Digital Media Observatory, the Digital Services Act, and the European Democracy Shield. Siim Kumpas from the European External Action Service highlighted additional resources, including the EU Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Toolbox and the EuvsDisinfo project, which has already identified and debunked over 19,000 cases of disinformation.

Participants noted that disinformation often exploits emotional responses, emphasizing the importance of pausing to question information sources before engaging with or sharing content that might be manipulative. The conference stressed that reducing engagement with questionable content helps limit its visibility and viral spread.

Education emerged as a central theme throughout the discussions. The FACT project, run by the Instituto Marquês de Valle Flôr, was highlighted as an exemplary initiative teaching young people to identify and debunk misinformation. Cátia Lopes, representing the project, explained that their activities include training on information verification and fact-checking skills.

“Media literacy needs to be taught in school, and this is where the state plays a key role. Democracy means credibility,” added Aimilios Perdikaris, Chair of the Board and General Manager at Athens Macedonian News Agency.

Portugal’s Deputy Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Carlos Abreau Amorim, announced that the government would continue investing in fact-checking tools and develop an action plan for media literacy. “Democracy cannot survive without free information and without free, impartial and critical media,” he stated, adding that strengthening journalistic ethics is essential since “a lack of credibility in journalism is the greatest ally of disinformation.”

The current state of journalism itself was identified as a contributing factor to the disinformation crisis. Luísa Meireles, Chief Information Officer at Lusa News Agency, noted that competitive pressures have created a problematic environment where “the best journalist is the one who publishes first, not the one who publishes safe content,” often relegating fact-checking to a secondary concern.

Artificial intelligence represents both a challenge and an opportunity in the fight against disinformation. Niko Efstathiou, a Journalist Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, explained that while AI can create convincing deepfakes targeted at vulnerable populations, it can also be leveraged to detect misinformation in real time.

Regulatory frameworks were discussed as necessary but complex tools. Alfredo Sousa De Jesus, Head of the European Parliament Office in Lisbon, observed that the challenge isn’t a lack of regulation but rather “the extensive opportunities and spaces which allow disinformation to spread.”

Katarzyna Szaran, Director of Strategic Communication at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, provided an optimistic outlook, highlighting Poland’s Resilience Council as a model for collaborative solutions. “A civil society approach, legislation and political initiative are important, but we all need to work together,” she said, revealing plans to expand the initiative to the EU level with a focus on enhancing digital literacy.

The conference concluded with a call for unified action across all sectors of society, emphasizing that defeating disinformation requires coordinated efforts from civil society, educational institutions, media organizations, and governments.