Disinformation and Fake News in Europe

1 | Before the visit

Before beginning to work on the content about disinformation and fake news, we will complete an initial quiz that will help us understand what prior ideas you have about this topic.

These are not graded assessments, but rather tools to identify how you interpret the information you receive every day and which aspects may need reinforcement.

Based on these results, we will be able to better guide the activities and delve into the key elements needed to learn how to detect and understand disinformation.

START THE QUIZ

What is disinformation?

After watching the introductory video and completing the first questions, this is the right moment to go a bit further and clearly define some essential concepts that will help you better understand what disinformation really is and why it is so important to be able to recognize it.

Disinformation

False or misleading content that is created, presented and disseminated with an intention to deceive or secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation does not include errors, satire and parody, or clearly identified partisan news and commentary.

Fake news

Inaccurate, sensationalist, misleading information. The term “fake news” has strong political connotations and is woefully inaccurate to describe the complexity of the issues at stake. Hence, at EUvsDisinfo we prefer more precise definitions of the phenomenon (e.g. disinformation, information manipulation).

Misinformation

False or misleading content shared without intent to cause harm. However, its effects can still be harmful, e.g. when people share false information with friends and family in good faith.

Why does the EU fight against fake news?

Disinformation has become one of the major challenges of our time. It often feels as though it surrounds us everywhere. It can appear in family conversations where heated debates arise about politics, social issues, or even health-related decisions, but it is also present on the internet, on social media, and even within the sphere of international politics.

The European Union actively works against disinformation because fake news can manipulate citizens and weaken democracy. The European Parliament promotes measures to protect citizens, foster transparency, and ensure that decisions are made based on verified information. During this activity, our school will analyze how false news related to the EU circulates and learn how to detect it using verification tools..

How can disinformation affect democracy?

“Members of the European Parliament make decisions that affect 450 million people. But for citizens to vote and influence policy in an informed way, it is essential that there is no manipulation through fake news.”

Thus, the study of disinformation is closely linked to:

democratic participation,
critical thinking,
the role of Parliament as a guarantor of transparency.

The EU has bodies and structures dedicated to combating disinformation, notably the recently proposed European Centre for Democratic Resilience, part of the “Democratic Shield”, along with initiatives such as:

the Code of Practice on Disinformation, which platforms must follow,
the work of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) and other observatories,
EUvsDisinfo, the European project against disinformation.

Learning to detect disinformation

The material you will find below is part of the educational resources developed by the European Union to help teachers and students develop critical‑thinking skills when facing disinformation. Its purpose is to provide practical tools, real examples, and activities that make it possible to learn how to identify reliable information on the internet.

PPT - Disinformation Toolkit for Teachers_EN.pptx

How we are deceived on the Internet: the 6 tactics of disinformation

On the following European Parliament webpage, you will find very useful videos that explain how disinformation works and what tricks are used to deceive us. The page presents six tactics that often appear on the internet—for example, making us react with strong emotions, dividing people, or flooding social media with contradictory messages so that it becomes harder to know what is true. These videos help you understand these tricks through real examples and learn how to recognize them so you don’t fall for them.

👉 Manipulation tactics

Put your skills to the test: ‘Bad News’ Game

Now that you already know how disinformation works and the tactics used to manipulate us, I’m proposing a challenge: become creators of fake news… but in a safe and educational environment.

In the online game Bad News, your mission is to build a fictional “disinformation factory.” As you progress, you’ll need to make decisions that use real techniques: provoking strong emotions, creating fake profiles, manipulating images, spreading rumors, and more.

The goal is to understand from the inside how these tricks work so that, in real life, it becomes much easier for you to detect them.

PLAY

2 | During the visit

“The chain of manipulation”

During the visit to the European Parliament, you will take part in a joint activity with students from the other participating schools. The activity is called “The Chain of Manipulation,” and it will help you understand how a message can change and become distorted even when no one intends to lie.

📝 Instructions:

You will form a large circle together with the other groups. The guide will give a neutral and simple message to the first participant.

Each person, when passing the message to the next, must add a small manipulative twist: exaggerate a detail, add drama, change the tone, remove context… whatever you can think of.

When the message reaches the end, it will be said out loud and compared with the original. You’ll see how easily information can change and become unreliable

Final discussion:

To close the activity, you can reflect together on the following questions:

At what point did the information begin to become distorted?
What manipulation tactics appeared even though no one planned them?
Why is it so easy for a message to be altered or lose its original meaning?*

3 | After the visit

What have we experienced and learned?

Now that you have seen how disinformation works, what tactics are used to manipulate us, and how it can influence the way we think, it’s time to take the next step. With all the information and experiences you have gathered —including the activities carried out at the European Parliament and the collaborative work with students from other schools— we are going to learn strategies to protect ourselves and to act responsibly when we come across questionable content online.

In this new phase, you will discover how to identify warning signs, how to verify information, and how to avoid becoming, without realizing it, part of the chain that spreads false news. Being well‑informed not only helps us make better decisions, but it also strengthens democracy and improves coexistence.

Ready to turn everything you’ve learned into practical tools?

Let’s get started!

The European Parliament proposes these ten practical steps to help you identify disinformation, protect those around you, and strengthen democratic resilience against manipulation:

👉Disinformation: 10 steps to protect yourself and others

Nobody wants to be the person who fills their friends’ social media feeds with conspiracy theories or disinformation. Use the tips from this video and stay one step ahead of disinformation.

Think before you share!!

Finally, here you have this compass rose to help you navigate the ocean of information and find your way through the waves of lies and disinformation.

We hope that everything you have experienced and learned throughout this journey has opened your eyes, made you think… and also allowed you to enjoy the process.

We hope you leave here feeling stronger, more critical, and better prepared to move through the digital world without being swept away by any fake news.

Keep navigating this well!

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