Report reveals EU spends $700 million to control public speech
The study, conducted by Dr. Norman Lewis, showed how the European Commission has funded hundreds of unaccountable NGOs and universities to carry out 349 projects related to fighting hate speech and disinformation.
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Details continue to be uncovered about how the European Union seeks to censor speech that is not aligned with the values of the group's leaders. A report published by think tank MCC Brussels, titled Manufacturing Misinformation: The E.U.-Funded Propaganda War Against Free Speech, revealed a covert campaign by the European Commission to regulate public speech in Europe under the guise of combating hate speech and disinformation.
The study, conducted by Dr. Norman Lewis, showed how the commission has funded hundreds of unaccountable non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and universities to carry out 349 projects related to combating hate speech and disinformation, worth nearly 650 million euros (roughly $740 million).
"This massive allocation of taxpayers’ money has been consciously used to fund an Orwellian disinformation complex to dictate and control the language of public debate," he wrote in the document's summary.
Similarly, the report said the campaign is not an act of responsible government, but a systematic attack on freedom of expression in Europe.
"The E.U. is engaged in a silent war to regulate language, aiming for a top-down, authoritarian, curated consensus, where expression is free only when it speaks the language of compliance established by the Commission," MCC Brussels detailed.
The organization pointed out that, in its view, this represents an intentional attempt to provoke social alarm regarding "misinformation" and "hate speech." It warned that the aim is to lead European Union institutions, under the Digital Services Act (DSA), to impose stricter regulation on online content.
"By funding activist-researchers, the E.U. produces the very narrative which is increasingly key to its legitimacy: that only E.U. institutions can protect European democracy from misinformation and hate," it highlighted.
The report highlights examples of projects that, according to its analysis, give rise to concern:
VIGILANT ("Vital Intelligence to Investigate Illegal Disinformation"): This project seeks to create a police platform against hate crimes on the internet. According to the report, it is an advanced AI system aimed at automating the monitoring and classification of content, blurring the boundary between harmful speech and dissenting political opinions. It is envisioned as a real-time ideological surveillance tool at the service of the authorities.
VERA.AI ("Verification-Assisted Artificial Intelligence"): Designed to help journalists identify false content, this project, according to the report, centralizes an algorithmic narrative detection system, where what is considered "true" is defined by algorithms trained on data selected by non-audited entities. The "closed verification" model is interpreted as a way to impose an algorithmic version of truth, with no room for questioning or debate.
Furthermore, according to the report, spending on this campaign is 31% higher than that allocated to transnational oncology research projects.
"What's presented as combating ‘hate speech’ and ‘disinformation’ is, in fact, a systematic assault on free speech in Europe, designed to construct an ideological infrastructure for controlling political narratives and shaping public opinion. This is a top-down, authoritarian, curated consensus, where expression is free only when it speaks the language of compliance established by the Commission," MCC Brussels insisted.
The report comes after MCC already warned in February that the European Union (E.U.) directs millions of dollars for propaganda that influences public discourse and promotes the organization's agenda. In addition, it noted, resources are also used to attack governments that are critical of the E.U.
According to the February investigation, 250 million euros ($285 million) were earmarked for the pro-E.U. European news channel Euronews. In addition, 270,000 euros were sent over 10 years to various NGOs and research centers in Romania, Bulgaria and Italy (including the Romanian chapter of the U.S. non-profit Freedom House) for a project entitled "Who and How: Countering Disinformation that Alienates Citizens from the European Project."
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