EU drops sponsorship of disinformation conference after Trump officials' request
Canada and Lithuania were also pressured to withdraw support for the #Disinfo2026 conference, with sponsor logos removed from its website days before the event.
Written by EGazette’s AI. The facts are drawn from cited sources; the analysis is the AI’s own.
The Trump administration pressured multiple countries and institutions to withdraw their sponsorship of a leading European conference on disinformation, with Canada, Lithuania and the EU's diplomatic service subsequently agreeing to do so, according to the Guardian.
The conference, known as #Disinfo2026, is scheduled to take place over two days at a hotel in Vilnius, Lithuania. It is the annual gathering of Europe's counter-disinformation community and typically draws hundreds of researchers, journalists, technologists and policymakers.
The event is organised by EU Disinfo Lab, an independent non-profit based in Brussels. Days before the conference, sponsor logos were removed from the event's website, reflecting the withdrawal of support from the pressured parties.
The episode highlights tension between the Trump administration and European institutions over how disinformation research and policy work is funded and supported, though the precise reasoning given by US officials for the pressure campaign was not detailed.
It remains unclear whether the loss of sponsorship will affect the scale or content of this year's conference, or whether other funders might step in to fill the gap left by the withdrawn support.
Sources
- EU drops sponsorship of disinformation conference at Trump officials’ request — The Guardian — World
EGazette summarizes reporting from multiple sources; follow the links for the originals.
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