Update following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine military conflict

The increasingly complex Russia-Ukraine conflict has spiralled into military actions, sustained by hybrid attacks and threatening global security and democratic values. This includes coordinated, state-controlled disinformation campaigns and influence operations targeting both the Russian population and the public opinion in neighbouring countries, the European Union and beyond.

In such a critical context, debunking activities by independent fact-checkers need to be strengthened with a view to ensuring a continuous, in-depth and fact-based analysis of the information conveyed by media and shared across online communities regarding the causes, motivations, developments and effects of the conflict, as well as the actors influencing its evolution.

For this reason, EMIF has decided to update its open call “Boosting Fact-Checking Activities in Europe” by further specifying its objectives.

Under Priority (a) – “Urgent Actions” – in Section 1 of the call, EMIF has invited applicants to submit proposals designed to increase the coverage, depth, and speed of fact-checking activities in connection to critical events, including public security crises, which may be likely targets of disinformation campaigns. In line with this general objective, and without prejudice to proposals addressing other relevant urgent actions under the above-mentioned priority, EMIF would welcome projects by organisations that commit to produce regular flows of fact-checks focused on the current Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Proposals should be aimed at enhancing fact-checking activities around the most relevant narratives, while following their evolution and spread during the whole duration of the project, and striving to identify the sources of disinformation, main vectors and targets. To this end, applicants may contemplate collaborations with fact-checking and media organisations and/or journalists operating within the conflict areas. Costs pertaining to such collaborations will be considered as eligible. All other conditions set out under the open Call “Boosting Fact-Checking in Europe” will remain unchanged.

Two types of actions are supported under this Call, as a means of strengthening the fact-checking ecosystem:

a. Urgent actions: projects designed to increase coverage, depth, and speed of fact-checking activities by organisations that commit to producing regular flows of fact-checks. These actions may have a duration up to 6 months and receive a grant up to €55 000.

b. Scale-up projects: free-lance collaborations within newsrooms and/or the integration of state-of-the-art technologies for content verification and media and social media monitoring. These actions may have a duration up to 12 months and receive a grant up to €80 000.

The Call for proposals details the conditions in which a project may be selected for support (admissibility conditions), the evaluation and award procedure, the reporting and payment arrangements and other elements relevant for the admission of a successful application. Together with the call, several templates are provided to be filled in during the application process or later when a project is approved. All applications are submitted online on this website after registration on the site. All correspondence regarding each application is channelled through the registered email address.