{"id":109665,"date":"2025-08-27T12:33:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T10:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiig.de\/?p=109665"},"modified":"2025-09-09T14:31:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T12:31:08","slug":"defending-europes-disinformation-researchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiig.de\/en\/defending-europes-disinformation-researchers\/","title":{"rendered":"Defending Europe’s disinformation researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Disinformation researchers across Europe are being sued, harassed and publicly smeared simply for doing their job. These efforts aim to discredit and silence oversight of tech platforms and malign political actors. Recent examples range from a defamation case in France, to smear campaigns in Poland, and government pressure on research institutions in Latvia and Hungary. However, these attacks are not isolated incidents. They follow a coordinated strategy originating in fringe and extremist circles in the US that is now spreading across borders and threatening democratic values in the EU. This article critically analyses various attack frameworks against disinformation researchers, explaining how these tactics work, where they come from, and how the EU can respond. It\u2019s time to defend the defenders, working to protect the public against propaganda, lies, and malign foreign influence.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across Europe, researchers and civil society organisations have become the targets of increasingly aggressive and coordinated attacks. Attacks against climate scientists<\/a> have been well documented, as have attacks against journalists<\/a>, and scholars studying topics like gender and identity<\/a>. Less discussed are attacks against disinformation researchers \u2013 those on the frontlines seeking to uncover and analyse deceptive information practices and safeguard European democratic institutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While ostensibly local, many of these tactics mirror strategies developed and deployed in the United States<\/a> by actors seeking to undermine public trust in institutions that monitor and expose harmful content online. The transatlantic diffusion of these methods has shifted the Overton Window in Europe, challenging the legitimacy of core democratic functions like transparency, accountability, and truth-seeking, while promoting political fringe actors, Russian propaganda, and anti-democratic forces \u2013amongst other malign phenomena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why disinformation research matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The work of experts being attacked is vital. It entails analysing social media content, tracing coordinated harassment campaigns, investigating bot activity, mapping influence networks, and monitoring evolving narratives around elections, conflicts, public health, climate change, and beyond. Myriad academic institutions, fact-checking NGOs, independent investigative outlets, and multi-stakeholder coalitions like the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) or the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN) work together to uncover deceptive information practices from bad actors, while aiming to equip the public with the skills needed to navigate today\u2019s chaotic media ecosystem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disinformation research is especially critical today, as democracies face a convergence of threats \u2013 from foreign influence operations to domestic extremism \u2013 online. A critical point to this end is: what takes place online can often impact the real world, offline. Understanding and exposing these patterns is essential for protecting public trust, democratic processes, and social cohesion in democratic societies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A growing pattern of attack<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the United States, a conspiracy-laden campaign emerged following the 2020 presidential election that has targeted disinformation researchers and institutions. This conspiracy began with claims that \u201cBig Tech\u201d rigged the election against President Trump and silenced conservative voices (claims which carry no empirical weight<\/a>) across social media. The actors promoting these claims found a receptive audience, shifting their focus to numerous election integrity projects<\/a> and academics who had served as trusted flaggers<\/a>, alerting social media platforms to illegal content and content which materially violated platforms\u2019 terms of service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This campaign sought to discredit these independent researchers and institutions by falsely portraying them as government censors. This effort intensified<\/a> through congressional hearings, media amplification (notably the \u201cTwitter Files<\/a>\u201d), lawsuits, and funding from anonymous, politically motivated donors. The campaign has culminated in a hostile legal and political environment for researchers, amplified by the House Weaponization Subcommittee and lawsuits like Missouri v. Biden<\/em> (which was ultimately dismissed<\/a> by the Supreme Court for lack of evidence). However, today, attacks against disinformation researchers, universities, private companies and any entity which publicly fights against disinformation are mainstream, originating in the White House itself, and indicative of a larger pattern of democratic backsliding<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How disinformation researchers are being targeted across Europe<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The past two years have witnessed a surge in attacks on disinformation researchers across Europe. These include several illustrative examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n