EU allocated €4 million to counter fake news in Central Asia

The European Commission has this week allocated additional € 4 million in support of the project of improving media literacy, reporting and regional cooperation in Central Asia. Funded under the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP) since 2018, the project is implemented by the international non-profit Internews. Activities include training sessions, national and regional workshops, and the setting up of fact-checking platforms to flag disinformation, as it is reported on the EU external action website (eeas).

Thus, the European Union helps Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan take measures to counter radicalization and promote peace and stability. Its aim is to increase societal resilience and empower people to spot and react to disinformation.

To help local media produce reliable content to counter disinformation and violent narratives, Internews has provided a capacity-building programme on conflict-sensitive reporting, conflict mitigation, and digital security. The programme – which also focused on citizen journalists and government public relations officers – included hands-on workshops on how to cover sensitive topics professionally.

To promote regional collaboration and the co-production of content related to peace and stability, Internews has hosted several public workshops, forums and informal meetings bringing together government agencies, the non-governmental sector, experts and media professionals. These enabled participants to acquire skills necessary to reach higher standards of reporting focused on preventing violent extremism.

To track and verify false information circulating online, including material disseminated by extremist groups, Internews and local partners launched a pilot for five national fact-checking platforms. These detect and prevent the spread of disinformation.

eeas€.europa.ue

Photo credit: newspost.gr