Freedom of Expression

The Council of Europe attaches high priority to the possible impacts of ‘fake news’ on European societies and to identifying effective ways of countering the phenomenon. To this end it supports the organisation of the First Draft European Partner Network Meeting in Strasbourg on the 3rd of July. The aim of the meeting is to exchange information on the scale of mis- and disinformation in Europe today and to share best practices, with a view to devising further initiatives and technologies that may be of use to media companies and journalists.

First Draft is a leading global research and training organisation with a network of over 300 people working at major media outlets, social platforms and technology companies, as well as over 35 journalism schools and research centres world-wide. It has facilitated cutting-edge research on the most prevalent types of mis- and disinformation, on the motivations behind them and the means by which they are spread. First Draft is equally engaged in a number of fact checking and verification projects across Europe, notably the CrossCheck projects focussed on the French and German elections.

• Programme
• Report of the First Draft Network meeting in Strasbourg on July 3rd prepared by First Draft
• Presentation: Gamers, Smears, and Memes - Understanding Closed Networks and Their Impact on the French Election