European Committee of the Regions, Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs, Zamparutti, T., Jones, M., et al., European Committee of the Regions, 2022.

This study, ‘A handbook on good practice in countering disinformation at local and regional level’ was developed in the context of a contract carried out by Milieu Consulting for the Committee of the Regions CIVEX Commission. Disinformation is a phenomenon that affects all levels of government. Given their proximity to the day-to-day lives of EU citizens, local and regional authorities (LRAs) have a frontline role to play in countering online disinformation. The ultimate objective of the study was to provide concrete recommendations and guidance to LRAs in support of efforts to fight online disinformation.

European Parliament, Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union, Jacob, C., Hausemer, P., et al., European Parliamentary, 2023.

The original full study analyses how governments, public health experts and other professionals communicated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact of the latter on these communication strategies. It investigates COVID-19 dis/misinformation practices, and countermeasures implemented in the EU. It draws up recommendations to improve these responses in the future.

European Parliament, Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union, Fridman, O., Baudais, V., et al., European Parliamentary, 2023.

With more and more disinformation campaigns targeting the EU and its institutions in recent years, Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions and operations have also been subject to such attacks. While this analysis did not identify systematic disinformation campaigns against the EU CSDP missions and operations, it does not imply that the CSDP missions and operations are not on the radar of the malign actors creating and disseminating disinformation. In fact, their activities are occasionally used by malign actors to feed into their campaigns intended to undermine the EU and its allies, which constitute the main target of these campaigns.

Evas, T. and Lomba, N., European Parliament Think Tank, 2020.

The EU can become a global standard-setter in the area of artificial intelligence (AI) ethics. Common EU legislative action on ethical aspects of AI could boost the internal market and establish an important strategic advantage. While numerous public and private actors around the globe have produced ethical guidelines in this field, there is currently no comprehensive legal framework. The EU can profit from the absence of a competing global governance model and gain full 'first mover' advantages. Building on the EU's economic and regulatory powers, common EU legislative action has great potential to provide European industry with a competitive edge.

Bayer, J., Katsirea, I., Batura, O., et al., European Parliament Think Tank, 2021

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee, aims at finding the balance between regulatory measures to tackle disinformation and the protection of freedom of expression. It explores the European legal framework and analyses the roles of all stakeholders in the information landscape. The study offers recommendations to reform the attention-based, data-driven information landscape and regulate platforms’ rights and duties relating to content moderation.

European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, Magonara, E. and Malatras, A., European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, 2022.

The EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and the European External Action Service (EEAS) have joined forces to study and analyse the threat landscape concerning Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) and disinformation. The concept of FIMI has been proposed by the EEAS, as a response to the call of the European Democracy Action Plan for a further refinement of the definitions around disinformation. Although disinformation is a prominent part of FIMI, FIMI puts emphasis on manipulative behaviour, as opposed to the truthfulness of the content being delivered. In light of broader hybrid threats that cross different domains, one of the main motivations behind this report is to identify ways to bring the cybersecurity and counter-FIMI communities closer together. The ambition is to provide an input to the on-going and ever-pressing discussion on the nature and dynamics of information manipulation and interference, including disinformation, and on how to collectively respond to this phenomenon

European Parliament, Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union, Colomina, C., Sánchez Margalef, H., et al., European Parliamentary, 2021.

Around the world, disinformation is spreading and becoming a more complex phenomenon based on emerging techniques of deception. Disinformation undermines human rights and many elements of good quality democracy; but counter-disinformation measures can also have a prejudicial impact on human rights and democracy. COVID-19 compounds both these dynamics and has unleashed more intense waves of disinformation, allied to human rights and democracy setbacks. Effective responses to disinformation are needed at multiple levels, including formal laws and regulations, corporate measures and civil society action.

European Parliament, Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union, Botero Arcila, B. and Griffin, R., European Parliamentary, 2023.

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee, examines risks that contemporary social media - focusing in particular on the most widely-used platforms - present for democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights. The study focuses on the governance of online content, provides an assessment of existing EU law and industry practices which address these risks, and evaluates potential opportunities and risks to fundamental rights and other democratic values.

European Parliament, Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union, Botero Arcila, B. and Griffin, R., European Parliamentary, 2023.

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee, examines risks that contemporary social media - focusing in particular on the most widely-used platforms - present for democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights. The study focuses on the governance of online content, provides an assessment of existing EU law and industry practices which address these risks, and evaluates potential opportunities and risks to fundamental rights and other democratic values.

European Commission, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, Plasilova, I., Hill, et al., Publications Office of the European Union, 2020.

The overarching study objective is to support the European Commission’s evaluation of the Code of Practice’s effectiveness. The assessment focuses on the 13 current Signatories of the Code of Practice on Disinformation (online platforms and business associations). The study analyses the standard terms of service and the specific policies and tools adopted by the online platforms to implement the commitments of the Code in the first year of implementation of the Code (October 2018 to October 2019). For this reason, ongoing efforts made by the Signatories to combat disinformation in light of the COVID-19 pandemic are not covered. The study methodology is documented in the Evaluation Plan (Annex 4). The methodology was designed specifically to be replicable so that it can form the basis for future assessments.

Huijstee, M., Boheemen P., Das, D., et al., European Parliament Think Tank, 2021.

The emergence of a new generation of digitally manipulated media – also known as deepfakes – has generated substantial concerns about possible misuse. In response to these concerns, this report assesses the technical, societal and regulatory aspects of deepfakes and identifies five dimensions of the deepfake lifecycle that policy-makers could take into account to prevent and address the adverse impacts of deepfakes. The report includes policy options under each of the five dimensions, which could be incorporated into the AI legislative framework, the digital service act package and beyond.

European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Lewandowsky, S., Smillie, L., et al., Publications Office of the European Union, 2020.

Drawing from many disciplines, the report adopts a behavioural psychology perspective to argue that “social media changes people’s political behaviour”. Four pressure points are identified and analysed in detail: the attention economy; choice architectures; algorithmic content curation; and mis/disinformation. Policy implications are outlined in detail.

European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Raykovska, M., La Placa, G., et al., Publications Office of the European Union, 2019.

The behavioural sciences, social sciences and humanities can bring us new insights into our political behaviour, such as how and why emotions, values, identity and reason affect how we think, talk and take decisions on political issues.