EDMO BELUX consortium has been called upon twice to support professionals dealing with disinformation challenges: radicalization prevention officers, workers in juvernile detention centers (IPPJ), mobile team, district agents, street workers… The first intervention took place with the Radicalization-Polarization Platform of Safe.Brussels (in October 2024), and the second during the Cross-Sectorr Working Meeting on the care of young people affected by radicalization or violent extremism organized by the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. Identified as a reference on disinformation issues, EDMO BELUX assembled a tandem of academic research and media education experts who intervened with professionals in the field.
On October 17 and Novembre 21, 202, Geoffroy Patriarche and Martin Culot were invited by two public services to speak to around thirty professionals, on each occasion. The initial request was to provide a framework for understanding disinformation on social media platforms used by young people. This topic is often seen as essential for professionals, who are confronted with how their target groups experience messages and mechanisms potentially linked to disinformation. In this context, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Brussels and Média Animation – both EDMO BELUX partners – collaborated to prepare two plenary sessions and a participatory workshop.
EDMO BELUX’s contribution: between academic research and media education
These opportunities allowed for the development of a joint presentation by UCLouvain Saint-Louis Brussels and Média Animation. The aim was to deliver a rather concise overview (about 30 minutes) of young people’s informational practices (where do they get their information?) and the current scientific knowledge on disinformation and, more broadly, misinformation. The goal was to equip the attending professionals with at least a basic grasp of the complexity of the issue and, more importantly, help them better understand the situations they encounter in the field. One coordinator from the radicalism teams in the Région Bruxelles hared a challenge from the previous year centered around EVRAS: “Some parents told me that if they enrolled their child in the ‘Libre’ network, the child wouldn’t have to attend EVRAS classes.”. Other participants mentioned the overwhelming flow of images from ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, especially since October 7, 2023.
On the topic of disinformation, the two plenary sessions focused on several commonly held beliefs that the consortium felt necessary to clarify or nuance—to “untangle the knots.”. Specifically, Geoffroy Patriarche and Martin Culot addressed five widespread myths about disinformation:
- Disinformation is false information. The “true-false” binary has its limitations (e.g., misleading information) and fails to capture the phenomenon’s complexity.
- Disinformation is a knowledge problem. Reducing disinformation to a lack of knowledge overlooks important social and political dimensions.
- Disinformation is everywhere. Studies invite us to reconsider the idea that individuals’ informational environments are flooded with problematic content. Some groups are more affected than others.
- People are easily fooled by disinformation. This notion echoes the outdated theory of strong media effects. Research has long shown that there is no automatic link between exposure, belief, and sharing.
- We need to encourage more skepticism and critical thinking. Promoting unfiltered skepticism can lead to a general mistrust, including toward democratic institutions.
In addition to presenting these insights, Geoffroy Patriarche and Martin Culot had the opportunity to showcase tools and initiatives developed by EDMO BELUX 2.0 to reduce disinformation.
A media education workshop to complement the plenary
On the afternoon of November 21, at the offices of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Média Animation led a more participatory workshop aimed at better understanding the realities professionals face.
First, the moderator sought to identify what the participants perceived as disinformation challenges. Two main topics emerged:
- Schemes for making easy money online. Workers reported that many young people are influenced by videos of influencers promoting online businesses—cryptocurrency, dropshipping, paid training programs, etc.—which depict ways to “make easy money.” According to three workers who shared this issue, it’s very difficult to counter these narratives that appeal to greed.
- Health claims surrounding “puffs.” Much information claims that puffs are dangerous, perhaps more so than cigarettes. This leads to endless debates among young people about whether puffs or cigarettes are more harmful. Youth workers often feel unequipped to argue that cigarettes remain dangerous even if puffs are also harmful.
In the second part of the workshop, participants explored various media education tools: how media literacy can address these issues. The discussions also touched on the “new information landscape,” particularly how information is now consumed almost entirely on social media. One major concern among professionals was the fragmentation of information sources and the lack of shared references. Everyone draws on their own networks—Telegram groups or other highly specific channels. The media no longer plays its previous unifying role, or at least not among the same core groups (family, neighborhood, etc.). Information consumption now occurs on a much broader, even global scale, making it hard for professionals to find their place—or even to respond to what young people are encountering and reading.
Polarization and disinformation: an issue to explore further?
Although these two requests occurred over a short period of time, they suggest that the need for frameworks and information on disinformation mechanisms remains high among professionals. These workers are continually confronted with media practices that may involve disinformation or misinformation. As the themes fueling polarization evolve, it remains crucial to maintain focus on these mechanisms and to consider what insights a multidisciplinary consortium like EDMO BELUX can offer.