Science Feedback

Report March 2025

Submitted

In 2024, Science Feedback continued its active participation, notably with the expectation that the Code of Practice would transition to a DSA Code of Conduct in 2025. We welcome the finalization of this transition.


On election protection, Science Feedback’s main effort was our active participation in the Rapid Response System (RRS) set up under this Code of Practice.

The existence of this RRS was a key factor in our decision to step up our monitoring efforts of the election campaign period, as it offered a window of transparency into platforms’ decision-making processes when it came to approaching election-related disinformation. 

Making use of the possibility for a fruitful exchange of information with other stakeholders, Science Feedback signalled to platform signatories a number of pieces of content which contained election-related disinformation that was likely to breach platforms’ guidelines or applicable legislation.

The content flagged related to:

  • - the enforcement of EU sanctions on Russian media entities and personalities, some of whose content was still available to EU audiences on various platforms despite the law prohibiting it,
  • - medical misinformation, notably misleading information about Covid-19, 
  • - the spreading of conspiracy theories (around the attack on Slovak Prime Minister R. Fico, election rigging…) 
  • - foreign interference in EU democratic processes, notably the Döppelganger campaign,
  • - the use of fake accounts impersonating politicians or political parties, 
  • - defamation.

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Elections 2024
[Note: Signatories are requested to provide information relevant to their particular response to the threats and challenges they observed on their service(s). They ensure that the information below provides an accurate and complete report of their relevant actions. As operational responses to crisis/election situations can vary from service to service, an absence of information should not be considered a priori a shortfall in the way a particular service has responded. Impact metrics are accurate to the best of signatories’ abilities to measure them].
Threats observed or anticipated
EP elections
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Overall, Science Feedback did not detect any extremely acute disinformation event specifically related to the EP elections.However, the European elections saw an exacerbation of preexisting disinformation trends. Disinformation was either directly related to the EU (e.g. misrepresenting the functioning of EU institutions, specific policies proposed or voted at the EU level, misrepresentation of the competencies devolved to the EU) or simply used the elections to feed preexisting narratives that had at best an indirect relationship with the election at hand (e.g. narratives around law and order, birth rates, the Israel-Gaza conflict, developments around the war in Ukraine…).In Science Feedback’s view, the EP elections served mostly as a focal point for an acceleration of preexisting disinformation phenomena. As such, time-bound responses such as the Rapid Response System are an extremely useful complement to, but cannot be a substitute for, strengthened sustained action to tackle disinformation.
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French snap elections
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As for the European elections, the main disinformation events (including FIMI) were largely an acceleration of preexisting narratives.
Mitigations in place
EP elections
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Science Feedback increased the resources dedicated to general monitoring of online platforms for short-term disinformation events, by dedicating one full-time staff member to online patrols, tasked with identifying issues and developments that would fall within the scope of the RRS.
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French snap elections
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Science Feedback increased the resources dedicated to general monitoring of online platforms for short-term disinformation events, by dedicating one full-time staff member to online patrols, tasked with identifying issues and developments that would fall within the scope of the RRS.