EU withdraws backing for disinformation event in Lithuania amid reports of US pressure
The EU has explained why it pulled sponsorship from the Disinfo2026 event in Vilnius, but did not confirm media reports of US pressure. An EU spokesperson said organizers framed some discussions in a way that does not align with official EU positions.
The European Union on Thursday set out its reasons for withdrawing sponsorship from a disinformation event in Lithuania. Several media outlets, including the British newspaper The Guardian, had earlier reported that the decision followed pressure from the US State Department.
The EU's European External Action Service (EEAS), along with the governments of Canada and Lithuania, withdrew support for Disinfo2026 at short notice. Sponsor logos on flyers and placards at the venue were hurriedly covered with paper strips.
What the EU said
EU spokesperson Christian Wigand did not mention the US or any outside pressure when speaking to reporters in Brussels, but he did not dispute the reports either. He said the EU was not comfortable with how some discussions were framed and that the organizers presented them in a way that does not match the EU's official positions.
He declined to say which discussions or what framing had caused concern. Wigand also would not say whether there had been talks with US officials on the matter, stating that as a matter of principle he does not comment on diplomatic exchanges.
Signs of possible controversy
The two-day event took place at the Radisson Blu Lietuva Hotel in Vilnius. Several planned sessions appeared likely to irritate more sensitive members of Donald Trump's administration, but the first two on Wednesday morning stood out.
The conference opened with an interview with Kimberly Prost, a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC), which Trump and his administration have attacked heavily and persistently during his second term. That was followed by an hour-long session titled "USA as a FIMI threat: acknowledge, adapt, push back," using the acronym for Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference. One planned speaker was a former CIA officer.
Strong free speech protections in the First Amendment of the US Constitution mean the country has taken a comparatively hands-off approach to countering disinformation, in both politics and law. This has arguably intensified under Trump, with critics saying it is partly due to his own often uneasy relationship with the truth.
