The EDMO Survey on Adversarial Behaviour, Prevention, and Protection, conducted between 25 July and 2 October 2024, highlights the increasing prevalence of online and offline abuse targeting professionals in Europe who work to counter disinformation, including academic researchers, fact-checkers, and journalists. The survey draws on insights from EDMO’s multidisciplinary network including the 14 regional and national hubs, aiming to map these abuses and assess existing preventive and protective measures.
Highlights
The findings of the survey reveal that 66% of respondents reported experiencing adversarial actions. The five most frequent forms of adversarial conduct are:
- Online harassment (Trolling)
- Threatening and intimidating emails
- Coordinated harassment (Brigading)
- Physical threats or harm
- Doxing
The reported abuses are primarily triggered by retaliation for work on contentious topics, distrust toward the counter-disinformation community, and public speaking on issues like conspiracy theories or platform regulation, with perpetrators including individuals, ideologically motivated groups, alternative media, and political or government entities.
Preventive measures and protocols
A relevant number of respondents reported the absence of such measures while underlying the relevance of mapping the gaps to find collective solutions. The main measures currently available are:
- Archiving evidence
- Legal support
- Psychological support
- Training
- Crisis response protocol for adversarial situations
- Peer-to-peer support systems
Respondents also highlight the need for strengthening some of the measures are already in place such as:
- Stronger and more rigorous enforcement of existing legal frameworks.
- More robust legal advice
- Enhancing support systems