- The EFCSN recommends objectives for the European Democracy shield including funding, infrastructure, DSA enforcement and information integrity work’s independence.
- The EFCSN proposes to establish an Information Integrity Fund (I3F) to achieve these recommendations.
4 April 2025 – The European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN) has published a position paper on the European Democracy Shield (EUDS) and the establishment of an Independent Information Integrity Fund. The paper includes a series of recommendations for the EUDS, including the establishment of an Independent Information Integrity Fund (I3F).
Information integrity and fact-checking are safeguards protecting democracy and civil liberties. Fact-checkers have a well-established, diverse range of interventions to tackle disinformation, and providing long-term support to fact-checkers in a time where their work is facing a serious and substantial funding crisis is an important way forward.
The recommended objectives for the EUDS made by the EFCSN also include strengthening existing infrastructure and networks; establishing an information integrity signals database; robust enforcement of the DSA and the Code of Conduct on Disinformation; and safeguarding the independence of information integrity work.
To this end, the EFCSN suggests the establishment of the I3F, funded initially by the EU, with mechanisms for member states and private funding to contribute. Such a fund would allow for a coordinated funding strategy with strong governance safeguards.
Read the full position paper below.
