Lisbon, Sept. 15, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal was the target of Russian disinformation about sending aircraft to help fight forest fires in August, concluded the monthly report by the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO).
According to the EDMO monthly report released on Monday, of the 1,441 articles intercepted by the 33 organisations that make up the fact-checking network, 127 (9%) focused on disinformation related to climate change and 99 (7%) on disinformation related to Ukraine.
In addition, 90 (6%) were disinformation about the European Union (EU), 90 (6%) related to immigration issues, 79 (5%) related to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, 49 (3%) involved misinformation about Covid-19 and 18 (1%) about LGBT+ and gender issues.
"The topic most targeted by disinformation in August was climate change, in line with the growing trend recorded last month," when disinformation on this topic accounted for around 8%.
Contributing to this increase were false narratives related to extreme events, as well as "pro-Russia disinformation that took hold of fake news about the environment: for example, Ukraine is portrayed as the culprit for the extreme rains recorded in Lithuania," says EDMO.
"In Greece and Portugal, on the other hand, Russia has been portrayed as a benevolent power, as it allegedly offered to send aircraft and help the local population fight forest fires," adds the observatory.
In August, Lusa Verifica had already refuted this narrative, as Portugal did not ask the Russian Federation to send amphibious aircraft to help fight the fires, contrary to what Greek MEP Nikolas Farantouris claimed.
If this request were true, it would violate the current sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia.
False news related to the war in Ukraine and the EU also increased, "as did disinformation about the crisis in Gaza, with the continuing narrative that the famine is not real or is greatly exaggerated".
Although the sharing of disinformation related to immigration and LGBT+ issues has decreased compared to July, false and misleading news on other monitored topics remained stable.
The report also highlights the summit between Putin and Trump in Alaska (US), as well as the subsequent meetings with various European leaders, which increased the virality of various claims "aimed at ridiculing and belittling the European Union, or portraying its members as warmongers".
In this regard, "pro-Russian disinformation contributed to spreading this image of a militarised and aggressive Europe, with false stories presenting, for example, British military officers captured during a Russian attack in Ukraine".
August was also marked by the start of tariffs between the US and the EU, but this topic seems to have been temporarily left out of disinformation narratives, according to the observatory.
The percentage of fake news using content generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) remained stable in August, with 147 (10%) articles addressing the use of this technology in disinformation.
Despite this, the European Digital Media Observatory warns that in recent months users have increasingly resorted to AI models to verify information, inadvertently contributing to the spread of disinformation.
PYR/AYLS // AYLS
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