News & Events

In a recent interview with Euronews, Michalis Sirivianos, scientific coordinator of Fact Check Cyprus and member of the MedDMO, commented on the controversy surrounding leaked video footage that circulated widely on social media in Cyprus earlier this year.

The Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory (MedDMO) participated in the cluster event for Safer Internet Centres (SICs) and European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) hubs, hosted by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) on 5 December 2025 in Brussels. MedDMO was represented by its Coordinator, Nikos Sarris, who presented the hub’s communication strategy, objectives, and overall impact.

The Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory (MedDMO) participated in the 6th Interdisciplinary Forum organized by the Graduate School of the University of Cyprus on Friday, December 5, 2024.

November 5, 2025 The MedDMO 2 kick-off meeting, held last week at the University of Malta, attracted notable attention from local media outlets, underscoring the growing public interest in efforts to combat disinformation across the Mediterranean region. The event was covered by Times of Malta, which highlighted the challenges of disinformation affecting even young audiences,

October 30, 2025 30.10.2025 Media experts from around the Mediterranean held a public event at the University of Malta on Thursday (30th October) on the theme of fighting disinformation and empowering society. This interactive event marked the start of the second round of the Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory (MedDMO), an EU-funded project bringing together journalists,

A study published by the MedDMO team in the Online Information Review focuses on the perception of disinformation among journalism students in Greece, Cyprus and Malta. The study examines how journalism students in Greece, Cyprus and Malta perceive and understand disinformation, particularly with regard to migration issues.

October 3, 2025 In their successive appearances in recent days both in the media and in important discussion panels and podcasts, researchers from the Cyprus University of Technology and Fact Check Cyprus have extensively referred to the problem of disinformation in Cyprus. In particular, Dr. Michalis Sirivianos gave an interview to a podcast related to

An educational seminar on the topic of “Disinformation and Content Verification Practices” took place on Thursday, July 3, 2025, at the premises of the University of Cyprus (UCY) in Nicosia. The audience consisted of 30 high school students (aged 15 to 18) in the context of the 2025 UCY Summer Academies for students.

The educational documentary of the InfoReady research project, which seeks answers about the phenomenon of disinformation in Europe, has been published. In particular, the documentary delves into four areas of disinformation: climate change, health, migration and LGBTQ+ issues.

Our hub, covering Malta, Cyprus, and Greece, has contributed to two newly published reports by the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) that offer in-depth insights into how disinformation is addressed across the EU.

A new EDMO report is out, assessing how major platforms are implementing the Code of Practice on Disinformation —soon to become a formal Code of Conduct under the Digital Services Act. MedDMO is proud to have contributed to this collaborative effort alongside fellow EDMO Hubs.

Our plenary meeting in Thessaloniki took place on Thursday and Friday, June 12 and 13, bringing us together for the last time in the course of the current round of MedDMO to examine our overall progress and gear up for the project’s next round.

Disinformation is one of the most pressing challenges of the digital age. To inform and empower media professionals, educators, and citizens, the event “Digital Tools & Actions Against Disinformation” will be held on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at 10:00 AM, under the auspices of the Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory.

With the support of the Global Fact Check Fund – a funding managed by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) – Ellinika Hoaxes designed and implemented ClimateCheckGROW project, a new initiative aimed at combating misinformation about the environment and climate change.

February 27, 2025 Professors from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki participated in a conference on fake news in Europe organized at the Koventareio Municipal Library of Kozani under the auspices of the city’s EPAL. In particular, Mr. Andreas Veglis and Charalambos Dimoulas, professors of the Department of Journalism & Media at the University, spoke about

Our plenary meeting in Impact Hub Athens has been kicked off Thursday Feb. 6, bringing us together around the table to take stock of the project’s progress and gear up for the final months of its first round.

Doing research into disinformation is rewarding. Sharing it – and how we go about it – with a group of close to 100 students is even more so.

MedDMO is deeply concerned by Meta’s recent decision to reduce professional fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram in favor of user-driven “community notes.”

December 17, 2024 The European Digital Media Observatory is a network of consortia that brings together a multidisciplinary and transnational community of independent fact-checkers, media literacy experts, and researchers engaged in detecting, exposing and countering disinformation, while developing the epistemological bases for relevant policies, notably in the field of media, digital services and associated educational

The Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory (MedDMO) participated in the 5th Interdisciplinary Forum organized by the Graduate School of the University of Cyprus on Tuesday, December 3, 2024.
MedDMO was represented by the Journalism Research Lab (J-Lab) of the Department of Social and Political Sciences, discussing the phenomenon of disinformation in the digital environment and highlighting MedDMO’s activities during a panel titled “Addressing Hybrid Threats: Implications for Society and the Democratic Process.”

MedDMO emerged as one of the top winners at the 32nd edition of Malta’s journalism awards, with two MedDMO and Times of Malta fact-checks taking home the top prize in their respective field during an awards ceremony held on Saturday 30 November.

Malta grapples with a major disinformation problem as a result of its highly polarised political environment. The problem got worse in the years following the 2017 assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, an investigative journalist who uncovered some of the biggest political scandals in the archipelago’s history.

Andreas Veglis, professor of journalism at AUTH, had the opportunity to present the activities and purposes of the Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory to a wide audience – including students.

EDMO’s guidelines and principles for effective media literacy initiatives aim to help increase the quality of media literacy across Europe. They have been developed by EDMO’s Working Group on Media Literacy Standards and Best Practices, with input from the EDMO Hubs along with other practitioners and experts during a consultation process, and are available on the EDMO website.

October 16, 2024 Photo: Daphne Caruana Galizia with Megan Mallia in 2001. Credit: Mandy Mallia 16th October 2024 By Megan Mallia Malta has a major disinformation problem as a consequence of a highly polarised political environment, and the problem got worse in the years following the assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on 16th

The Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory (MedDMO) is holding its 4th plenary meeting in Paris, hosted at the AFP Headquarters. This key event has brought together all nine partners of the consortium to discuss the future trajectory of MedDMO, focusing on the possibility of launching a MedDMO 2 campaign.

On October 2nd, 2024, the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) hosted a critical panel in Warsaw titled “Preserving Democracy, Fighting Disinformation: AI-Generated Disinformation in the Context of Elections.”

Journalists working for the Cypriot media participated in the workshop on “Disinformation, Techniques and Tools for Content Verification”, co-organized on Monday 16 September 2024 at the premises of the Journalism Centre in Nicosia, by the Journalism Programme of the University of Cyprus and the Cyprus Union of Journalists within the auspices of the project “Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory – MedDMO”.

When EDMO was launched in June 2020, its mission was clear: the creation of an interdisciplinary cross-border network that would elevate Europe’s understanding of – and collective efforts against – online disinformation.

July 10, 2024 An educational seminar on the topic of “Disinformation and Content Verification Practices” took place on Tuesday, July 2, 2024, at the University of Cyprus (UCY) in Nicosia. The event was aimed at high school students (aged 15 to 18) and was conducted within the context of the MedDMO and the 2024 UCY

June 20, 2024 Dr. Nikos Salamanos from the Cyprus University of Technology presented a research paper on detecting disinformation on X (formerly Twitter) at the 18th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM’24) in Buffalo, USA. This research is a collaboration between the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), IMDEA Networks Madrid, and LSTECH

The next generation of journalists took part in a critical discussion Tuesday 11/6 at the University of Athens around the role of investigative journalism and the battle against disinformation in Europe, with MedDMO being invited at one of the panels.

May 23, 2024 Over 150 students in Malta got to participate in media and misinformation workshops organised by representatives from the University of Malta’s Department of Media and Communications in the past week. Sessions were held in San Andrea School, St Martin’s College and Junior College. The students, who ranged from 11 to 17, were

May 22, 2024 The role of the MedDMO in the European ecosystem that works to combat disinformation was highlighted by AUTH professor Andreas Veglis at a conference in Rhodes. The conference on “The role of journalism in local development and environmental protection in the region” was organized on the weekend of 18-19/5 by the Association

May 15, 2024 Researchers play a pivotal role in ensuring MedDMO’s impactful contribution to the fight against disinformation in Greece, Cyprus and Malta. In an interview for The Media & Learning Association (MLA), four of MedDMO’s researchers shed light on the leading players for the promotion of media literacy in the three countries, on the

In preparation for the upcoming European elections in June 2024, an educational activity was conducted at the University of Cyprus as part of the relevant initiatives of the Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory (MedDMO) on digital and media literacy.

A paper that is to be published in early June titled ‘Exploring Left-Wing Extremism on the Decentralized Web: An Analysis of Lemmygrad.ml ‘ acknowledges MedDMO.

Fifteen undergraduate students of the University of Neapolis in Paphos learned tangible ways of identifying and preventing disinformation, following an educational initiative by the Social Informatics Research Unit of TEPAK and Fact Check Cyprus, in collaboration with Greece Fact Check

Freshman Journalism students learned the… secrets of combating misinformation as it is carried out within the framework of MedDMO from Professor of AUTH, Andreas Veglis.

March 13, 2024 The MedDMO research project that started its journey to help combat disinformation in Greece, Cyprus and Malta in December 2022, continues its work for the next three days in Limassol. As part of an event that will take place on Thursday, March 14 between 10:30 – 12:15 in the Amphitheater of the

November 20, 2023 The Social Computing Research Centre of CUT (Home) announces the creation of the Anti-Disinformation Centre Fact-Check Cyprus (https://factcheckcyprus.org). This is the first anti-disinformation group established in Cyprus to study and refute false claims. It is the culmination of a collaboration of individuals involved in the fight against misinformation in Cyprus and Greece.

November 7, 2023 On November 2, 2023, the Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory (MedDMO) and the University of Cyprus participated in the first Cypriot-Estonian symposium titled “Cyprus and Estonia in the Face of Information Disorder: Media, Audiences, and State Institutions”. The event was organized by the Department of Communications, Centre for Communications Studies and Research at

October 3, 2023 An educational seminar on the topic of “Misinformation and content verification practices” took place on Monday, September 25, 2023, at the University of Cyprus library facilities in Nicosia. The event was aimed at all library staff members of the educational institution and was conducted within the context of the research program “Mediterranean

YouTube, as a dominant platform for video content, has become an essential source of information for many. However, its user-generated nature makes it susceptible to the spread of misinformation.

June 26, 2023 The research findings of common ground of misinformation in Greece, Cyprus and Malta enters its final stage, for the Mediterranean Observatory of Digital Media – under the auspices of the EU – whose operation began at the end of last year. This was revealed by its members who spoke about the evolution

May 26, 2023 With journalist Stamos Archontis from Ellinika Hoaxes, MedDMO participates in the action group set up by EDMO to combat disinformation ahead of the 2024 European elections. Building on the experience of the corresponding EDMO Task Force on disinformation about the war in Ukraine, the new task force plans to carry out a

April 27, 2023 Technology development will steeply increase in such a way that people won’t be able to believe in their own eyes. That’s what Dr. Nikos Sarris, CERTH researcher and MedDMO coordinator said in his appearance on Greek national television (ERT3) and more specifically on “Day with Color” news show. As he said, “technology

April 4, 2023 At the University of Cyprus and more specifically in Nicosia, on March 29 and 30, representatives of the institutions and companies that make up the Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory, which was established last December with EU funds to develop tools and promote actions against disinformation, got together. In front of an academic

Recent events have demonstrated that disinformation spread through social networks can have dire political, economic, and social consequences. Detecting disinformation must inevitably rely on the structure of the network, on users’ particularities, and on event occurrence patterns.

YouTube has revolutionized how people discover and consume videos, becoming one of the primary news sources for Internet users. Since content on YouTube is generated by its users, the platform is particularly vulnerable to misinformative

March 6, 2023 Representatives of MedDMO’s partners are set to meet up in Cyprus at the end of March 2023 for two days (29-30/3) The meeting will take place at the University of Cyprus in Nicosia. In the course of the meeting, the newly launched MedDMO website will be presented to members of the Press.

December 6, 2022 The Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory (MedDMO), the regional hub of the European Digital Media Observatory covering Greece, Cyprus and Malta was launched on December 1st 2022 in Thessaloniki. The two-year-and-a-half project brought together the participating partners involved in a two day kick off event. During the event, partners spoke about their area of