CANCELED_How to dissolve the truth in 7 simple steps: the European experience of disinformation

In recent years, disinformation has become one of the most persistent threats to democratic resilience, public trust, and evidence-based policymaking in Europe. The external, foreign-driven processes by which truth is diluted are increasingly amplified internally and being embedded within democratic societies themselves. While public as well as academic discourse has been targeting this issue for a decade, constant development of new technologies such as AI-driven tools for content generation, brings up new challenges.  

This lecture sheds a light on the phenomenon of false and manipulated information spread via new media. It outlines a conceptual framework comprising recurring main strategies that contribute to the erosion of shared factual understanding across the European public sphere. Drawing on comparative case studies from EU member states and the United Kingdom, the presentation examines how disinformation permeates media ecosystems, shapes collective perceptions, and interacts with political polarization, algorithmic infrastructures, and institutional vulnerabilities.

Each of the elements and steps is explored not as an isolated maneuver but as part of a broader disinformation architecture. The analysis pays special attention to the emotional economy of digital platforms, the monetization of outrage, and the deliberate blurring of boundaries between fact, belief, and opinion. Furthermore it points out to the lack of fact-checking know-how among journalists who by fulfilling the role of gatekeepers in media communication often become middlemen in the process of disinformation spread. 

The aim of this lecture is to provide a structured and critical lens through which disinformation can be identified as well as understood not merely as the spread of falsehoods, but as a process of destabilizing the very frameworks that allow societies to distinguish truth from manipulation. In doing so, the lecture seeks to equip listeners with analytical tools to recognize, resist, and ultimately counteract the erosion of truth in contemporary Europe.