As the 2024 European Parliament elections approach, millions of Europeans will play a crucial role in shaping the future of European democracy by voting. At the same time, widespread disinformation campaigns intended to undermine the electoral process have been detected across the EU.
In response to this pressing challenge, EDMO and the EDMO Hubs launched an online campaign titled “Be Election Smart” on Monday April 29. This campaign will run for six weeks, aiming to support and empower European citizens in navigating the information landscape surrounding the European Parliament elections. Each Monday will see a new “Be Election Smart” message published along with practical tips to encourage citizens to discern whether the information they find is accurate and reliable. These messages and tips will be disseminated extensively across EDMO’s networks and translated by local EDMO Hub experts into the different EU languages, ensuring accessibility and relevance to local contexts, nuances, and cultural references.
The “Be Election Smart” campaign hopes to serve as a beacon of guidance and empowerment, enabling European citizens to make informed decisions and to help safeguard the integrity of the democratic process.
As part of the campaign, EDMO Ireland will host tips and resources on its website and Media Literacy Ireland will host a webinar on elections and disinformaiton.
Meanwhile, TheJournal, an EDMO Ireland partner, recently launched a knowledge bank of resources to accompany its factchecks. Learn about election coverage and find answers to essential questions about European and Irish elections.