EDMO Ireland

Over half of McGregor's presidential campaign posts on X filled with false claims and threats.
A report from @edmoireland.bsky.social and DCU has found that his rhetoric, amplified by Elon Musk, normalised misinformation during his bid.
Read more in @thejournal.ie: launch.dcu.ie/46nUi2j

EDMO Ireland Report Concludes McGregor’s Online Campaign Shows Risks of X to Irish Democracy Conor McGregor’s short-lived presidential campaign spread misinformation, personal attacks, and extremist rhetoric to a global audience, according to a new report from EDMO Ireland. The study, From...

Our report into McGregor's campaign also highlights the role Twittter/X's CEO Elon Musk has played in amplifying disinformation and provactive political rheotic about Irish politics and politicans

You can read our full report here:

edmohub.ie/index.php/ed...

Conor McGregor’s short-lived presidential campaign spread misinformation, personal attacks, and extremist rhetoric to a global audience, according to a new report from EDMO Ireland. The study, From Free Speech to Violent Rhetoric: Elon Musk’s X as a Threat to Electoral Integrity, examined 127 posts from McGregor’s X (formerly Twitter) account between January and September 2025. It found that: 58% of posts contained false claims about the Irish presidency, constitution, or history. 28% included ethnonationalist rhetoric, while others attacked government figures as “traitors” or enemies of the people. At least six posts implied political violence, targeting migrants and public officials. Platform safeguards failed: 23 posts attracted suggested fact-checks from X’s Community Notes, but none were activated. The report highlights the role of Elon Musk, owner of X, who endorsed McGregor’s candidacy, engaged with his posts, and amplified misinformation about the Irish election process to his 226 million followe

EDMO Ireland have released their review of Conor MCGregor's Online campaign for #Aras25.

McGregor's post about his Presidential ambitions included extremist rhetoric, conspiratoral framings, political disinformation which X/Twitter's fact checking system has failed to effectively intervene.

Slide for world media literacy week presentation.

EDMO logo

A very pretty library

a beautiful library

On Tuesday EDMO Ireland travelled to the beauitful DeValera library in Ennis, Co Clare to give a talk for #WorldMediaLiteracyWeek.

We will be hosting further media literacy workshops over the next few weeks, ahead of #Aras25, the Irish Presidential Elections on October 24th!

FactCheck: Sign up to The Journal's monthly newsletter about misinformation trends See how we’re fighting back with quality information every month – and what’s happening in the wider world of disinformation.

With the date for #Aras25 set, and the candidates lining nominations, we'd advise everyone to subscribe to our partner organisation's @thejournal.ie FactCheck newsletter.

This month they're looking at some of the fringe candidates, and a look back at previous Irish Presidental elections.

Opinion: As the presidential race begins, ordinary citizens must speak up for democratic principles External funding, smear campaigns and bots have become familiar features of elections elsewhere

In our increasingly polarised political landscape EDMO Ireland's Professor Eileen Culltoy, and her colleague Dr David Farrell argue that the solution lies in grassroots democratic outreach and more substantive citizen engagement in our political processes.

How (and why) to fix political ads in the EU Meta follows Google (and TikTok and Microsoft) and leaves the EU political advertising market. The damage will be significant.

Meta's recent announcement that it will follow Google's decision and ban political advertising on its platforms comes with significant implications for free speech and democracy in Europe. Sam Jefferies from @whotargets.me explores the problem and offers some solutions for EU policy makers.

Rising above a provocative headline, a woman asks the press to frame immigration stories with care “I don’t want my story or the way my headline was written and the backlash it got to be a prime example for immigrants to not tell their stories,” says Sumyrah Khan.

Professor Eileen Culloty from EDMO Ireland sat down with The @dublininquirer.com's @shamimmalekmian.bsky.social to discuss how a provocative headlines can often negatively impact even a well written story, and look to how the media can and must do better.

‘He kept saying: what wrong have I done? Why me?’ An Indian man is left stripped and bloodied on an Irish street An apparently racially motivated attack in Tallaght has caused ‘outrage, fear and concern’ among the Indian community in Ireland. But it was not an isolated incident

A vicious attack on an India worker in Dublin last week has shone a light on how online disinformation is fuelling a wave violence againsit India migrants in Ireland.

www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...

@edmo-eu.bsky.social 's best of fact checking map for July is out now.

Claims that the Chinese 3 forges damn has "altered the earth's rotation" refuted by NASA.

Matroska propaganda campaign targetting Moldova.

And Hilary Clinton did not endorse Conor McGregor's bid for the Irish Presidency.

FactFind: What happened when Mairead McGuinness voted against EU refugee rescue missions in 2019? McGuinness and her fellow Fine Gael MEPs faced heavy criticism from opposition politicians at the time.

FactFind: What do we know about Catherine Connolly's visit to Syria in 2018? Connolly says she did not “utter one word of support for Assad.”

As the Irish Presidental Election gets into gear, EDMO Ireland's fact checking partners at The Journal (@TJ_FactCheck) examines some of the claims surrounding the two announced candidates.

thejournal.ie/factcheck/ne...

Childhood vaccination rates below pre-pandemic levels Childhood vaccination rates across Ireland remain below pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report.

This report underlines that disinformation is not an abstract threat to society, it can pose a direct threat to the public health of our most vunerable members.

Ireland had one of the highest uptakes for the COVID-19 vaccine and boosters (over 96%). But five years later the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) is now warning that vaccine uptake rates in Ireland for some preventable childhood diseases are falling below herd immunity levels.

Childhood vaccination rates below pre-pandemic levels Childhood vaccination rates across Ireland remain below pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report.

Childhood vaccination rates in Ireland remain below pre pandemic levels, with the fall in vaccination rates linked to the rise of online disinformation and misinformation about vaccine safety according to Professor Anne Moore from UCC.

Read more here....

The June monthly fact check briefing by
@edmo-eu.bsky.social is out!

This month's main story; an unprecedented rise of AI generated disinformation about the war between Israel and Iran. With disinformation utilising AI generated images, videos, and articles contributing to the "fog of war".

EDMO Ireland Contributes to Council of Europe Workshop on Countering Disinformation On 04 July, Dr Eileen Culloty was invited to participate in an expert workshop at the Council of Europe. The workshop provided specialist insight into a draft strategic document on countering disinfor...

EDMO Ireland were delighted to contribute to the Council of Europe's workshop on Countering Disinformation last week in Paris. Dr Culloty provided insight into a draft strategic document on counter disinformation and promoting information integrity.

#EUPolicy
#InternetPolicy
#CounterDisinformation

Role of influencers to be considered under EU's 'democracy shield' plans McGrath says a network of European fact-checkers is being established.

Our partners at TheJournal report on plans for factchecking under the EU's Democracy Shield. Factcheckers will play “a crucial role in verifying information and countering disinformation”. www.thejournal.ie/michael-mcgr...

In Ireland, it's a false story about benefits for immigrants

Based on 1.5k factchecks across the EU, the EDMO #factchecking brief identifies the stories with the most traction across the continent and within countries

As part of a DCU in the Community series, Eileen Culloty delivered a #BeOnlineSmart talk in Ballymun library.

Participants took home their EDMO postcards and talked about the attention economy, platform design & online advertising.

Visit edmo.eu/beonlinesmar...

Interesting report - by @alliance4europe.bsky.social - reveals that Big Tech platforms fail to uphold EU sanctions on Russian and Belarussian propaganda actors. They are "sanctioned by thriving". alliance4europe.eu/sanctioned-b...

Joint submission on researcher access to platform data DCU FuJo and the UCD Centre for Digital Policy have made a joint submission to the Public Consultation on the draft delegated act (article 40) on access to online platform data for vetted researchers ...

Researcher access to data is essential to understand online platforms. The EU is deciding how to support that.

Read the joint submission by the UCD Centre for Digital Policy and DCU FuJo (EDMO Ireland coordinator) here edmohub.ie/index.php/jo...

In-Person Meeting of the EDMO Executive Board | Florence, 4 December 2024

How is EDMO governed? Who serves on the Executive Board and Advisory Council? What are the mandates of each body?

Get to know us better at edmo.eu/about-us/edmoeu-governance/ and find our events on our public calendar – such as last week's EB meeting under an inspiring blue sky in Florence... 👋🏼🦋

Meanwhile amid the exodus to Bluesky, only three parties are active here: "Fianna Fáil, People Before Profit and Fine Gael. But their reach just isn’t as good there as on established platforms yet – compare Fine Gael’s 958 (at the time of writing) Bluesky followers to the 62k it has on Twitter."

Data gathered by @newswhip.bsky.social shows housing was the big issue of the week in terms of articles published.

#GE24 Media Dynamics: attack ads, milking media appearances, and organic TikToks Aoife Barry reviews the media dynamics of GE24 for EDMO Ireland and FuJo.While ‘attack ads’ have been a feature of American life since the 1960s (we can thank some of the era’s pioneering a

Aoife Barry reviews the media dynamics of #GE24 for
EDMO Ireland & FuJoMedia. This week it's attack ads, milking media appearances, and organic TikToks. Read here: edmohub.ie/index.php/ge...

Má tá tuairisc nuachta craolta ó fhoinse amháin nó ar mheán amháin, b’fhéidir nach an scéal ar fad atá i gceist. Cur ceist ort féin – cé a scríobh é seo, cén fáth agus conas ar tháinig tú air? #BeElectionSmart #GE24

Image of podcast player with the title: “The Explainer: Are we about to see a further escalation in the Ukraine war?”

Image of a podcast player with the title ‘The Candidate: This election was supposed to be a disaster for Sinn Féin’

A busy day of podcasting

First up, The Explainer with @laurabyrne.bsky.social and @donnachadcu.bsky.social

Then, The Candidate with @christinebohan.bsky.social @janematthews1.bsky.social @muirisocearbhaill.bsky.social and Christina ‘Not Here Yet’ Finn

Listen now ✨ wherever you get your podcasts ✨

Congratulations to Ricardo! The second recipient of the MLI Special Recognition Award goes to someone who has made a particularly significant contribution to MLI in the last year. Congratulations Dr. Ricardo Castellini da Silva 🏆✨🎉 #MLIAwards2024

#GE24: The National Alliance Dr Shane Murphy examines the campaign dynamics of right-wing and anti-immigrant candidates.June’s local elections were largely successful for the Irish far right with six anti-immigration candi

Dr Shane Murphy examines the National Alliance, an electoral pact designed to avoid vote splitting among right-wing and anti-immigrant candidates for #GE24. edmohub.ie/index.php/th...