Recent attacks on politicians in Europe signal a rise in politically motivated violence in part driven by disinformation. Media literacy interventions can help increase societal resilience to disinformation and subsequently protect democracy.

This article gives an overview of two ongoing 3-year Horizon Europe sister projects, VIGILANT and FERMI that both develop technical platforms to support law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) in the fight against disinformation campaigns, including those that target free and fair elections.

In an era defined by the pervasive influence of social media and the expansive realm of cyberspace, the proliferation of online disinformation has emerged as a critical concern. The ramifications extend far beyond disinformation, encompassing the facilitation of crime-related activities that pose significant threats to societal well-being and security. The FERMI Community Resilience and Socioeconomic Watch epitomises a proactive approach towards bolstering resilience and mitigating digital risks.

The growing spread of disinformation has become an inescapable phenomenon to be reckoned with. Looking at the latest evidence, what does this trend mean for society? And what can we do moving forward?

The FERMI project is an ambitious undertaking with a clear-cut objective: to create and validate technologies that address the ever-evolving challenge of disinformation and its tangible consequences. The project is organised around two key technical work packages: the FERMI Core Technology Offerings and the User Interfaces and Platform Integration. These facets are intrinsically interconnected in their pursuit of delivering the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of the FERMI Platform within the first year of the project.

What are politically motivated crimes? How can we coherently measure such crimes across the EU? With consistent statistics in the field of (violent) extremism and their implications for research, this article calls for a long overdue public discussion on the matter.

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) provide vast amounts of data that can be used by developers to create apps and services that extend the functionality of social media platforms. Further, APIs are a valuable resource for researchers, allowing them to monitor hate speech and the spread of disinformation on certain platforms. Most of the big social media platforms offered free access to their APIs. However, in recent months, more and more platforms have restricted access to these powerful data sets.

In the aftermath of their most recent presidential elections, the capitals of the United States and Brazil were subject to violent insurrections. After the losing incumbents Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro had spread conspiracy theories about the results being manipulated supporters of theirs took the fight to the streets and violently stormed government buildings, including the US Capitol and the Congress in Brasilia. This blog post casts light on the role of social media in bringing about the violent uprisings.

Recently, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was banned from seeking political office until 2030 for undermining the democratic process. When announcing the ruling the presiding judge of Brazil’s highest court boldly declared that there was no tolerance for “criminal extremism attacking the powers of the state, fake news, disinformation to try to deceive voters.”

In the digital age, fake news and disinformation have become serious issues, with many governments and individuals struggling to keep up with the rapid spread of false content. The recent leak of the Vulkan Files, a collection of documents revealing Putin's cyberwarfare tactics, sheds light on the use of digital tools to influence both foreign and domestic politics. In this article, we will explore the implications of Putin's global and domestic cyberwarfare tactics and their potential consequences.