- \n
- 85% of the 200 organisations surveyed have encountered “anti-NGO” narratives online.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 26% reported direct targeting and harassment, including doxxing and “baiting” emails designed to extract controversial responses<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Disinformation manifests internally via staff and volunteers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Colette Bennett from the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) provided a powerful reflection, noting that media literacy must be part of a broader framework to prevent the fracturing of social cohesion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Shane-Murphy_2-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Policy Contexts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Forum provided an overview of high-level policies and strategies that shape responses to disinformation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- John Evans, Digital Services Commissioner (Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n) As the Digital Services Coordinator for Ireland, Commissioner Evans outlined the pivotal role of the Digital Services Act (DSA).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Seamus Hempenstall, Principal Officer (Dept. of Culture, Communications and Sport) briefed the forum on the implementation of the National Counter Disinformation Strategy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Dr. Mary Clare O\u2019Sullivan, Head of Electoral Integrity and Research (An Coimisi\u00fan Toghch\u00e1in) and Diane Duggan (Head of Legal and Regulation, An Coimisi\u00fan Toghch\u00e1in), discussed the Electoral Commission\u2019s mandate to protect the integrity of the democratic process and current work on political advertising. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Panel-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nCase Studies in Community Practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Looking at activities on the ground, the forum heard from:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Robert McCollough (Adult Literacy for Life) shared successes from the \u2018Let\u2019s talk about media literacy\u2019<\/em> campaign.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Lorraine O\u2019Connor (AONTAS) presented the Community Education Against Disinformation (CEAD) project, focusing on inclusive access for marginalised groups.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Edel McGinley (Hope and Courage Collective) highlighted the vital work being done to monitor and research far-right activity and hate speech within local communities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Tackling disinformation requires a multi-pronged approach. While the event showcased innovative media literacy initiatives, no one is suggesting these types of initiatives are sufficient in themselves to address the disinformation problem. Regulation is needed, especially in relation to platforms. Nevertheless, media literacy is an essential part of the long-term goal of empowering people with knowledge and skills to think for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Aidans-Work-Group-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Monday, 11 May, leaders from across Ireland\u2019s regulatory, governmental, and community sectors gathered at Europe House, Dublin, for the annual Disinformation Forum. Co-hosted by EDMO Ireland and Media Literacy Ireland, the event marked a pivotal moment in our collective effort to counter disinformation through grassroots collaboration and media literacy. The forum was opened by … Read More “Strengthening Communities: Highlights from the 2026 Disinformation Forum”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fearghas-EDMO.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1560,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555\/revisions\/1560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmohub.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Robert McCollough (Adult Literacy for Life) shared successes from the \u2018Let\u2019s talk about media literacy\u2019<\/em> campaign.<\/li>\n\n\n\n