US torpedoed a conference against disinformation, and Europe went along with it

While the EU claims the right to defend its own infosphere from foreign manipulation, including manipulation attributed to Moscow, the withdrawal came after Washington’s intervention.

The European Union has made the defense of democracy and the fight against disinformation one of its signature policies. But at the very moment when the new European Democracy Shield is supposed to be strengthening Europe’s capacity to protect the information space, Brussels has withdrawn its support from an independent conference devoted to that very topic. It is a decision that has caused disappointment and anger in the community that works to defend the integrity of Europe’s information space.

At the core of the scandal is #Disinfo2026, the annual conference organized by the NGO EU DisinfoLab, which brings together researchers, journalists and tech professionals in Vilnius. The British daily The Guardian has documented the Trump administration’s approaches to several governments to get them to withdraw support for the event. Washington’s chief target was a panel titled “USA as a........

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