• Priority Area Boosting Fact-checking Activities in Europe
• Funding Round / Action Types 5th Funding Round – Scale-up Projects
• Year 2023, 2024
• Country Romania
• Project Status Ongoing

This intervention builds on the existing knowledge, expertise and networking capacity of EFOR acquired in previous projects in order to refine and increase the visibility of the analysis of disinformation campaigns related to the war in Ukraine. More precisely, we will focus on the most sensitive narratives which are today amplified by the Russian aggression and target the region of Eastern Europe: the attempts to erode support for Ukraine in local societies, including by projecting a negative image of the refugees, exploiting in a manipulative way historical episodes from the two world wars of the 20th century, in order to revive petty nationalisms with political potential today; based on this, recycle in endless loops anti-NATO and anti-American cultural clichés; and in the same manner undermine the EU project with war-related conspiracies.

To achieve these goals, EFOR will cooperate with Moldovan and Ukrainian partners to create a good framework for monitoring; then we will deploy quantitative social market analysis tools we have used in the past (Crowdtangle, Pulsar, other new tools to analyse video content) to document relevant channels, topics and influencers; and finally we will cooperate with independent and reputable media platforms in the Romanian language to distribute our conclusions and products to the wider public, both in Romania and the Republic of Moldova.

A newsletter will be published regularly with the most interesting findings, targeting opinion leaders in the two countries. The analysis will also be repackaged in the form of teaching materials to be used in EFOR’s series of civic education activities we carry out regularly in high schools. Three events will also be organised, in Brussels, Bucharest and Chişinău, each targeting different groups of decision-makers to raise awareness of the deeper, subtle, but powerful social effects of the fake news which circulate in our region on the eve of the 2024 European elections.