{"id":16894,"date":"2026-10-08T14:10:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T11:10:27","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-10-08T14:10:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T11:10:27","slug":"eu-and-allies-pull-conference-backing-after-us-pressure-over-panel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/eu-and-allies-pull-conference-backing-after-us-pressure-over-panel\/","title":{"rendered":"EU and allies pull conference backing after US pressure over panel"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration pressured<\/a><\/span> several countries to withdraw their support for a leading European conference on disinformation.<\/p>\n

Canada, Lithuania, and the European External Action Service (EEAS) subsequently complied.<\/p>\n

Held on Wednesday and Thursday, the #Disinfo2026 conference serves as the annual gathering of Europe\u2019s anti-disinformation community, bringing together hundreds of researchers, journalists, technology specialists, and policymakers at a hotel in Vilnius, Lithuania.<\/p>\n

The conference is organised by EU DisinfoLab, an independent non-profit organisation based in Brussels.<\/p>\n

A few days before the conference, the logos of its main sponsors: the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European External Action Service (EEAS), and Global Affairs Canada, were removed from the website.<\/p>\n

Photographs of the event shared with The Guardian also show white stickers affixed over these organisations\u2019 logos printed on official conference materials.<\/p>\n

This appears to indicate that the logos were removed from the programme in haste.<\/p>\n

Three people familiar with the matter, including European officials, confirmed that the US Department of State contacted several governments regarding their support for the conference.<\/p>\n

Internal US Department of State documents obtained by The Guardian also reveal that US officials thanked Lithuania for \u201ctaking US concerns seriously\u201d.<\/p>\n

The document notes that Washington was \u201cgrateful\u201d that Lithuania found the organisation of a panel describing the US as a foreign information threat \u201creprehensible and baffling\u201d, and welcomed its decision to limit participation in the conference.<\/p>\n

According to information obtained by The Guardian, France was also contacted.<\/p>\n

The panel, titled \u201cThe US as a FIMI threat: adapt, accept, counter\u201d (where the acronym FIMI stands for \u201cforeign information manipulation and interference\u201d), was held on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The panel addressed how Europe\u2019s disinformation community could regain resilience without Washington, and appears to mark the first time the conference raised the idea that the US could be a disinformation actor in Europe.<\/p>\n

According to sources and internal documents, the Department of State focused specifically on this panel, which featured three American speakers, including a former CIA officer.<\/p>\n

According to a person briefed on the discussions, the source of other correspondence appeared to be the office of Sarah B. Rogers, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.<\/p>\n

In their statements, Lithuania, Canada, and the EU noted that the conference programme did not align with their official views regarding the US role in disinformation.<\/p>\n

Yet this programme had been drawn up months before they withdrew their support, dating back to June.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: \u201cLithuania cancelled its participation in the \u2018Disinfo 2026\u2019 conference because parts of the conference programme diverged from the government\u2019s official position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samantha Lafleur, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada (GAC), said: \u201cGAC carefully reviews participation in and sponsorship of external events on a case-by-case basis. Following changes to the framing of several panel discussions, GAC decided to review its participation in those sessions at the EU DisinfoLab 2026 conference,\u201d adding that Canadian officials still attended the conference.<\/p>\n

An EU spokesperson confirmed that the European External Action Service decided to withdraw its support for the conference because \u201cthe organisers chose to frame some discussions in a way that did not align with official EU positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to information obtained by The Guardian, EU officials disagreed with describing the US as a disinformation actor.<\/p>\n

Despite withdrawing its name as an official backer, the EU continues to provide funding for the conference.<\/p>\n

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

The Trump administration pressured several countries to withdraw their support for a leading European conference on disinformation. Canada, Lithuania, and the European External Action Service (EEAS) subsequently complied. Held on Wednesday and Thursday, the #Disinfo2026 conference serves as the annual gathering of Europe\u2019s anti-disinformation community, bringing together hundreds of researchers, journalists, technology specialists, and policymakers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[742,1946,22435,2182,14619,610,22431,14240,22433,22434,842,13780,6333,22432,17644,3874,821,12358,19488],"class_list":["post-16894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","tag-canada","tag-cia","tag-conference-sponsorship","tag-disinformation","tag-eeas","tag-eu","tag-eu-disinfolab","tag-european-external-action-service","tag-fimi","tag-foreign-information-manipulation-and-interference","tag-france","tag-global-affairs-canada","tag-lithuania","tag-samantha-lafleur","tag-sarah-b-rogers","tag-trump-administration","tag-us","tag-us-department-of-state","tag-vilnius"],"yoast_head":"\nEU and allies pull conference backing after US pressure over panel - Harici<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The EU, Canada, and Lithuania pulled support for a disinformation event following US pressure over an anti-Washington panel.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/eu-and-allies-pull-conference-backing-after-us-pressure-over-panel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EU and allies pull conference backing after US pressure over panel - Harici\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The EU, Canada, and Lithuania pulled support for a disinformation event following US pressure over an anti-Washington panel.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/eu-and-allies-pull-conference-backing-after-us-pressure-over-panel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Harici\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/haricitr\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-08T11:10:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Disinfo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Harici.com.tr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@haricitr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@haricitr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Harici.com.tr\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/eu-and-allies-pull-conference-backing-after-us-pressure-over-panel\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/eu-and-allies-pull-conference-backing-after-us-pressure-over-panel\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Harici.com.tr\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/45047d1e0be7e8c266daed68de2cf7aa\"},\"headline\":\"EU and allies pull conference backing after US pressure over panel\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-08T11:10:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/eu-and-allies-pull-conference-backing-after-us-pressure-over-panel\/\"},\"wordCount\":570,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/eu-and-allies-pull-conference-backing-after-us-pressure-over-panel\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Disinfo.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Canada\",\"CIA\",\"conference sponsorship\",\"disinformation\",\"EEAS\",\"EU\",\"EU DisinfoLab\",\"European External Action Service\",\"FIMI\",\"foreign information manipulation and interference\",\"France\",\"Global Affairs Canada\",\"Lithuania\",\"Samantha Lafleur\",\"Sarah B. 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