Resilient Votes: Expert Workshop on Safeguarding the 2024 EP Election
Nikoleta Nemečkayová
/ Ed. 24. 5. 2024
As the European Parliament elections approach, not only candidates but also disinformation actors are stepping up their activities. In addition to the old tried and tested tactics, they are also using new technologies. With the help of various artificial intelligence tools, they can now create and spread disinformation much easier, faster, and cheaper. We have already seen their use in practice during last year's parliamentary elections in Slovakia and Poland and on an even larger scale in the campaign for the upcoming US presidential election.
Will we see similar strategies in the lead-up to the European Parliament elections? What tools and narratives are gaining traction? And how can we effectively counter them?
These were the key questions addressed in our workshop on March 13, as part of the project “Strengthening the Resilience of Czech, Slovak, and Polish Society Prior to the 2024 European Parliament Elections.” Project partners from AMO, the Adapt Institute, and the EAST Center shared the project’s activities and outcomes with attending experts from state institutions, media, and think tanks. They also spotlighted effective anti-disinformation tools used during last year’s presidential elections in the Czech Republic and parliamentary elections in Slovakia and Poland.
The workshop then shifted to an interactive part, where participants were split into groups and tasked with designing their own disinformation campaigns targeting the European Parliament elections, representing either foreign or domestic state and non-state actors. After presenting their campaigns, the groups evaluated their potential effectiveness together. This led to a further discussion on potential countermeasures that could be implemented by individual EU states and the Union as a whole.
Funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed represent the views and opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible.
