The European Commission has announced the eight selected national hubs that will become part of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) network. The network of hubs on digital media will contribute to the fight against disinformation across Europe. Each national hub will cover one or more EU Member States.
The EU dedicates more than 11 million Euros to the funding of eight hubs that will help implement and expand the work of EDMO. Through the national hubs, EDMO will increase its capacity of tackling harmful disinformation campaigns at the national and EU level, and analyze their impact on society and democracy.
Each hub will contribute to the creation of a multidisciplinary community by pulling together academic researchers, fact-checkers, media practitioners, and other relevant stakeholders to create a network capable of:
- Detecting and analyzing disinformation campaigns, as well as producing content to support mainstream and local media and public authorities in exposing harmful disinformation campaigns;
- Organizing media literacy activities at national or multinational level;
- 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 eight national hubs cover Ireland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, as well as Norway, in the EEA. The hubs should be operational by the end of summer 2021. The eight selected hubs will sign grant agreements with the EU in the upcoming months.
The European Digital Media Observatory
The European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), operational since 1 June 2020, serves as a platform for fact-checkers, academic researchers, and other relevant stakeholders contributing to address disinformation in Europe. It also encourages and supports collaboration with media organizations, media literacy experts, and provides support to policy makers.
EDMO, as part of its first phase of activities, is working to deploy technical means and infrastructure to facilitate collaboration and knowledge exchange between researchers and fact-checkers in Europe and coordinates joint activities at the EU level.
The second phase will start with the establishment of the first EDMO hubs that have just been announced. The aim is to eventually reach full coverage of the EU and EEA.