National Contex
The case of Italy:
The case of Greece:
Italy presents a complex disinformation landscape marked by polarization, low digital literacy, and a lack of comprehensive regulation. Disinformation in Italy often exploits emotionally charged, divisive topics—such as immigration, public health, or civil rights—by manipulating real events or legitimate concerns with false or misleading content. These narratives are cyclical, frequently resurfacing and adapting to new crises. Particularly concerning is the instrumental use of disinformation as a political communication tool, especially by populist and far-right actors, with limited legislative safeguards currently in place to regulate or counter its spread.
Attempts at regulation have stalled amid concerns over freedom of speech, leaving the responsibility largely in the hands of digital platforms. Compounding the problem is the growing presence of gender-based disinformation, with coordinated campaigns aimed at discrediting female politicians and undermining civil liberties, thus threatening democratic participation and public trust. Italy also faces one of the most significant digital literacy gaps in Europe.
According to Eurostat and the European Commission’s DESI Index, only 45% of Italians possess basic digital skills, ranking the country 24th among EU Member States. Among youth aged 16–19, digital competence is 20 percentage points below the EU average, highlighting a generational divide and deepening educational inequalities. These challenges are reflected in public perceptions: over 76% of Italians believe that fake news is becoming harder to detect, while 20% report low confidence in recognizing false content and nearly 30% outright deny that disinformation is a real issue. Despite this, Italy lacks a national media literacy strategy, and initiatives in this area are fragmented and rarely continuous.
Trust in digital media remains low, further eroding resilience against manipulation. As emphasized by European and national research (e.g., Melstveit, 2024), addressing trust deficits, promoting skills to verify online content, and integrating AI literacy into educational interventions are critical next steps for improving Italy’s societal resilience to disinformation.
Greece faces a deeply entrenched disinformation and media trust crisis, shaped by a decade of austerity, declining press freedoms, and persistent digital skill gaps. Disinformation is not confined to fringe corners of the internet; factcheckers frequently flag some of the most popular Greek news websites for spreading misleading or false narratives.
The country’s fragile media environment—marked by economic precarity, political interference, and a shift toward clickbait-driven models—has been further destabilized by high-profile scandals, such as the eavesdropping controversy, which contributed to Greece being ranked 107th out of 180 countries in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index, the lowest in the EU. Compounding these challenges are critical deficits in digital and media literacy. As reported in the 2024 Digital Decade Report, only 52.4% of Greeks possess basic digital skills, trailing the EU average and showing regression from previous years.
The Network Readiness Index (2024) ranks Greece 49th globally, reflecting systemic weaknesses in ICT integration in education, adult media literacy, and digital platform engagement. Trust in news is alarmingly low: the 2023 Reuters Digital News Report ranks Greece last (46th of 46 countries) in terms of public trust in media, driven by perceived partisanship, poor transparency, and the politicization of journalism. This context fosters a climate of news avoidance, particularly among women and rural populations, making it difficult to engage the public on complex or polarizing issues like climate change, migration, and public health. Political polarization further fuels disinformation susceptibility, as audiences perceive media outlets through an ideological lens.
The absence of a coherent national media literacy strategy, alongside limited formal or non-formal digital education, weakens societal resilience and hampers the development of critical thinking and informed civic participation. In light of these challenges, Greece urgently needs coordinated, cross-sectoral initiatives aligned with EU frameworks, including the Digital Education Action Plan (2021–2027) and the European Democracy Action Plan, which emphasize the role of inclusive education, citizen empowerment, and platform accountability in strengthening democratic resilience against disinformation.
The case of Portugal:
Portugal occupies a complex but relatively favorable position in the European disinformation landscape. According to the Disinformation consumption patterns in Spain and Portugal Report (2024), Portuguese citizens demonstrate a high level of concern about disinformation, particularly in digital contexts, with 71% of the population expressing worry over what is real or fake online—rising to 81% among those who trust the news. In terms of exposure, Portuguese citizens report encountering disinformation at rates similar to the EU average, with 28% encountering it “often” or “very often,” and 54% reporting moderate confidence in their ability to detect it. One of Portugal’s most notable strengths is its high level of trust in news, which stood at 71% in 2023, second only to Finland across Europe (Digital News Report, 2023).
The European Commission’s Media & News Survey (2023) further supports this optimistic outlook, showing that only 2% actively avoid all news, and 77% consume news daily or multiple times per day, exceeding EU averages. This relative trust and engagement, however, mask underlying inequalities: news avoidance is rising among lower-income and less-educated groups, and avoidance of specific topics—such as climate change, public health, and identity issues—indicates growing sociopolitical fractures within the information ecosystem. Disinformation in Portugal is particularly impactful during election periods, when polarizing narratives—often without factual basis—gain significant traction.
The online public discourse has become increasingly polarized, privileging sensationalism over debate, where falsehoods often outperform factual content. Although Portugal has not been the target of widespread, domestically rooted disinformation campaigns, it is vulnerable to imported and translated content, particularly around Covid- 19, the war in Ukraine, and corruption (EU DisinfoLab, 2024). Additionally, a growing substratum of radicalized digital actors and the spread of manipulated or out-of-context information are gaining ground, particularly in fringe networks. These risks are intensified by the economic fragility of Portugal’s media ecosystem, which undermines professional journalism and fact-checking capacity. As such, there is an urgent need to strengthen media literacy, promote inclusive engagement with credible information, and support democratic resilience, especially among vulnerable groups.