Baltic Engagement Centre for Combating Information Disorders

Abstract

The primary objective of the Baltic Engagement Centre for Combating Information Disorders (BECID) project is to support the EU in its efforts to tackle disinformation in the three Baltic countries. This is an area of particular importance, due to its location on the edge of the EU and the presence of a large Russian-speaking minority population (approximately 17%). It is also a region that presents a diverse cross-section of post-soviet countries, an important factor to consider when developing responses to fake news and disinformation. BECID responds to all of the priorities and objectives of the call and contributes significantly to the Digital Europe Programme objectives. We will create an EDMO hub in a key region, which brings together 9 beneficiaries and 1 associated partner from the 3 Baltic States, including 4 research organizations, 4 IFCN certified fact-checkers, a non-profit organization with 13 founding members cooperating on media literacy activities and a Latvian TV channel. We also have 14 external experts supporting us, covering the topics of migration and societal cohesion; environmental policies and climate change; European security policy; Russia’s regional foreign policy; public health etc. Building off numerous previous activities of BECID partners, we will perform continuous fact-checking (720-900 audio, audiovisual or written media texts all up for three Baltic states), create 10 analytical reports on Baltic disinformation trends and a common methodology for analysing them, research information disorders in Baltic social media spaces and the impact of interventions, create systematic reviews of tools and methods used to verify false information and carry out 5 media literacy campaigns. Particular attention will be paid to vulnerable groups such as Russian speakers, elderly and youth.