{"id":201437,"date":"2025-06-16T18:31:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T18:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/?p=201437"},"modified":"2025-06-17T12:57:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T12:57:19","slug":"eu-creates-a-ministry-of-truth-with-taxpayers-money-fact-checking-network-receives-5-7-million-euros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/eu-creates-a-ministry-of-truth-with-taxpayers-money-fact-checking-network-receives-5-7-million-euros\/","title":{"rendered":"EU creates a \u201cMinistry of Truth\u201d with taxpayers\u2019 money \u2013 Fact-checking network receives 5.7 million euros"},"content":{"rendered":"

European Commission launches a network with 5.69 million euros to finance fact-checking \u2013 officially to \u201cprotect democracy\u201d, de facto to expand censorship infrastructure<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

An EU fact-checking project<\/a> funded with over \u20ac5 million is presented as a tool to defend democracy \u2013 but in reality it is like a velvet glove for the iron fist of European content governance.<\/p>\n

The European Commission has launched an initiative presented as a support program for fact-checkers. However, beneath the surface, it is a strategically planned step toward further institutionalizing state-sponsored censorship within the European Union.<\/p>\n

This call for project proposals is marketed as being aimed at protecting democracy and combating disinformation. However, its structure, objectives, and institutional embedding suggest the opposite: a centrally controlled apparatus for enforcing official narratives \u2013 financed with public funds.<\/p>\n

The project runs until September 2, 2025, and is aimed not only at organizations from EU member states, but also explicitly at candidate countries such as Ukraine and Moldova \u2013 countries that the EU considers particularly vulnerable to \u201cforeign influence<\/em>,\u201d especially \u201cpro-Kremlin disinformation<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

This strategic framing serves two purposes: first, to legitimize increased content surveillance, and second, to ensure narrative control in geopolitically sensitive regions.<\/p>\n

The program’s central goals \u2013 protecting fact-checkers from alleged \u201charassment<\/em>,\u201d creating a central repository for fact-checking, and building \u201cresponse capacity<\/em>\u201d for crisis situations \u2013 appear harmless at first glance. But beyond the euphemistic language, a blueprint for a continent-wide control system for content surveillance is emerging.<\/p>\n

The proposed \u201cprotection system<\/em>\u201d offers legal and technical assistance to fact-checkers \u2013 but above all, it reinforces the narrative that any criticism of these organizations should not be viewed as legitimate expression of opinion, but as an abusive attack.<\/p>\n

The planned central \u201cfact-check repository<\/em>\u201d will serve to curate what is considered \u201ctruth.\u201d The proposed \u201cemergency function<\/em>,\u201d in turn, will allow the Commission to quickly take action against dissenting information in politically sensitive situations \u2013 under the pretext of \u201ccrisis response<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Particularly revealing is that participating organizations need to be certified by either the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN) or the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). Many of these certified bodies \u2013 including AFP and Full Fact \u2013 already cooperate closely with social networks like Meta through external moderation programs.<\/p>\n

This means that the European Commission is using public funds to build a privileged class of information gatekeepers who are already intertwined with the censorship mechanisms of large corporations \u2013 and is also giving them state legitimacy and funding.<\/p>\n

At least 60% of the funds are to be allocated to third parties, with co-financing by the recipients being a prerequisite \u2013 a further step towards anchoring these structures in the European information space.<\/p>\n

The Commission describes this initiative as part of its so-called \u201cEuropean Democracy Shield<\/em>\u201d \u2013 a term that in practice turns out to be a rhetorical pretext for restricting freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

Almost every policy component of this project relates to dealing with so-called \u201cdisinformation<\/em>.\u201d However, no precise or objective definition of this term is provided\u2013 which allows the Commission maximum flexibility in suppressing unwanted speech.<\/p>\n

This deliberate vagueness paves the way for an instrument that can be directed against a broad spectrum of critical voices \u2013 without democratic control and with the support of the EU bureaucracy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

yogaesoteric
\nJune 16, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

European Commission launches a network with 5.69 million euros to finance fact-checking \u2013 officially to \u201cprotect democracy\u201d, de facto to expand censorship infrastructure An EU fact-checking project funded with over \u20ac5 million is presented as a tool to defend democracy \u2013 but in reality it is like a velvet glove for the iron fist of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1093],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-censored-news-social-5127-en-censored-sensational-news-3480-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201441,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201437\/revisions\/201441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}