On behalf of its Network of national and regional Hubs, EDMO.eu expresses its deepest concern about the attack that the Orbán government is waging against VSquare journalists, the regional Hub FACT, as well as other media outlets.   

In line with the statement issued by FACT [here], EDMO.eu totally rejects the allegations put forth by Hungary’s Sovereignty Protection Office in its 24 March Report, which falsely represents FACT, one of the EDMO Hubs, as a foreign-funded networked structure involved in disinformation and political influence operations. It stresses that, contrary to the Report’s defamatory framing, the fact-checking and research infrastructure set up by the FACT project is aimed at ensuring, within its regional scope, an independent and neutral identification and verification of disinformation campaigns that might undermine the democratic debate, affect the integrity of elections, or restrict human rights and fundamental values, including freedom of speech and press freedom.  

All the organisations forming part of the EDMO Network have committed to very clear guiding principles: independence, integrity, transparency, neutrality, pluralism, diversity and inclusion, ensuring scientifically grounded interventions. Suggesting that one of the EDMO Hubs would exert targeted and partisan political influence is a completely baseless claim that defaces the true nature of the work that all the organisations affiliated to the EDMO Network are determined to pursue in support of the integrity of the information space and of citizens’ right to access reliable information. Such a work is all the more vital for democracy at critical junctures such as elections and international crises.