US pressures allies to withdraw from disinformation conference in Vilnius
The Trump administration has reportedly urged several governments and the EU to reconsider taking part in the "#Disinfo2026" conference in Vilnius, where the US is discussed as a source of disinformation threats. Canada, Lithuania and the EU asked organisers to remove their logos from conference materials.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has pressed diplomatic officials from the European Union, Canada and Lithuania to withdraw from an international conference on disinformation, Politico reports. The "#Disinfo2026" conference is being held in Vilnius on 7 and 8 October.
What worried Washington
The State Department was unhappy about sessions that treat the US as an agent of "foreign information manipulation and interference", or FIMI. The term is used by the EU for activities that distort the information available to the public, for example by spreading disinformation online, and is usually applied to foreign influence such as Russia's. Washington considers it inappropriate that the conference groups the US with adversaries like China and Russia.
One panel looked at the US as a disinformation threat to Europe and featured two American researchers and a former CIA employee. Another had legal experts assess the travel bans the US has imposed on European officials.
How countries responded
The State Department asked embassies, including those in France, Norway, Romania and Poland, to verbally convey US displeasure and to find out whether governments see the US as FIMI. A US official said some countries, but not all, were urged to reconsider participation. Officials from Romania, Norway and Poland remain on the conference agenda, and France has not withdrawn. Canada and Lithuania asked organisers on 5 October to remove their ministries' logos from materials, and the EU did so on 6 October.
Wider context
The Trump administration has repeatedly sought to make the EU adopt Washington's standards of free speech, using public criticism, lobbying against EU laws and visa restrictions on Europeans. Republicans have also objected to EU rules requiring social media platforms to do more against online disinformation and to age verification rules, with some calling them censorship.
Panellist Adam Fivenson said the State Department's reaction was strange, since researchers are using their First Amendment rights to discuss how to stop lies and manipulation. The State Department said it could not comment on diplomatic communications but that countries pulling out should not be surprising once they learn the US has been labelled FIMI.
