Disinformation on the internet is a serious threat – as the war in Ukraine demonstrates in a dramatic way. For it is not only a battle on the ground, but also an information war. Propaganda and false claims about the Russian invasion make it hard for citizens to assess the credibility of images and reports on social media. The dimension is immense: the EUvsDisinfo database has already collected more than 6,000 cases of disinformation targeting Ukraine.
To counteract the problem of disinformation, the German Press Agency (dpa) has developed Fact Graphics, a modern format of fact checks as interactive graphics and animated videos.
Building on this, dpa has now started a cross-border project to unite fact-checkers from several countries in a joint multilingual production of visualized fact checks. This includes partners from Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. The focus lies on disinformation circulating in the course of the war in Ukraine. The ten-month project is supported by the European Media and Information Fund (EMIF).
The new attractive and easy to understand journalistic format of the Fact Graphics is highly accessible to a broad public. It thus helps combat the spread of false and misleading information. The Fact Graphics are made available for free use at dpa-shop.com. In a second step, they will also be provided as videos on dpa-video.com.
In future, dpa will also include the Fact Graphics in its fact checks for GADMO.
The sole responsibility for any content supported by the European Media and Information Fund lies with the author(s) and it may not necessarily reflect the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.
