Each of the eight hubs covers one or more Member States that will become part of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) network of hubs on digital media to contribute to the fight against disinformation across Europe.

The EU is funding eight hubs that will help implement and expand the work of EDMO. Their aim is to put in place strategies to increase EDMO’s capacity of tackling harmful disinformation campaigns at national and EU level, and analyse their impact on society and democracy. Each hub will contribute to the creation of a multi-disciplinary community by bringing together academic researchers, fact-checkers, media practitioners and other relevant stakeholders to create a network capable of:

• detecting and analysing disinformation campaigns, as well as producing content to support mainstream and local media and public authorities in exposing harmful disinformation campaigns;
• organising media literacy activities at national or multinational level; and
• providing support to national authorities for the monitoring of online platforms’ policies and the digital media ecosystem.

EDMO and its regional hubs are funded through the Connecting Europe Facility. They are independent from any national or EU public authority.

The selected hubs cover Ireland, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden, as well as Norway in the EEA. They should be operational by the end of summer 2021. To read the Commission’s press release in full, click here.