Empowering cities against mis/disinformation: building capacity, coordination, and trust
According to CEMR’s latest study, nearly half of LRGs report moderate to significant impacts from misinformation, particularly in areas such as public health, personal attacks on officials, and election interference. During the pandemic, for example, false claims about vaccines and public measures severely undermined public trust.
The personal toll is also growing. One in four local representatives has faced online abuse or intimidation, and over half report being targeted by false claims about their integrity or conduct. These are not abstract challenges, but rather, they erode both individual safety and democratic trust.
The evidence of CEMR’s study highlighted how misinformation and disinformation spike during crises, for example, around COVID-19, climate policies like low-emission zones, or housing and migration debates. During moments when emotions run high and public debate intensifies, local and regional governments often find themselves on the frontline of these tensions, but many lack the capacity or tools to respond effectively. CEMR’s findings show that 58% of municipalities still lack a formal strategy to counter misinformation and disinformation, and only a quarter are in the process of developing one. Most rely on reactive measures, 58% monitoring social media to spot emerging issues, around a third run awareness campaigns, and a smaller share (4%) collaborate with fact-checkers or pursue legal action (21%). These are useful but insufficient without proactive planning.
For CEMR, building resilience requires three key actions:
- Strengthen local capacity and trust. Training staff, protecting targeted officials, and using participatory democracy tools such as citizens’ assemblies can help communities become less vulnerable to false narratives.
- Improve coordination and tools. Shared monitoring systems, partnerships, and national or EU knowledge-sharing platforms can help municipalities act faster and avoid duplication.
- Create an enabling framework. National and EU support, through measures like the Digital Services Act, AI Act, and national counter-disinformation laws, can provide resources, clarity, and legal backing.
Ultimately, misinformation may be a global issue, but its impact is most visible locally. Empowering local governments with the right capacity, coordination, and frameworks is key to protecting communities, safeguarding democracy, and rebuilding public trust.
For more information, contact:
Senior Advisor – Governance & Institutional Relations
