Immunizing Citizens Against Mis/Disinformation 2

Beside the current pandemic, we also have infodemic spreading increasingly among EU citizens which can severely impact their democratic participation and engagement. This may include disinformation, misinformation, fake news, and other types of interference on different issues related with public life. Immune 2 Infodemic (I2I) project developed a viable methodology for immunising citizens against mis/disinformation by giving basic information and tools about media literacy, digital literacy, and critical thinking (vaccines) then applying these tools on three use cases (elections, COVID 19 and migration - boosters). As a follow up to I2I, I2I2 aims to increase democratic resilience by immunizing EU citizens/residents against the mis/disinformation on selected new themes/boosters and to encourage them to actively participate in the political debate by using their democratic rights in an informed way, immuned from malign effects of mis/disinformation. I2I2 will formulate and co-produce 3 additional themes (boosters): use of artificial intelligence in disinformation, foreign malign interference perpetrated by Russia, and misinformation and disinformation activities related to environmental/climate change. EU Citizens/residents, youngsters (18-25 y) and elders (+65 y) in general, but those live in Belgium, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands in particular who have limited/no knowledge about misinformation and disinformation activities but who use social media extensively will be targeted in various in-situ and online events. Policy makers in Europe and beyond constitute another cluster within the target audience who will benefit from the findings of the project. The project consortium will organise in total 16 event packages in Belgium, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands aiming to reach out directly 1.800 citizens in Europe and also indirectly 180.000 people with the help of multipliers, media and social media.