What does this call involve?
The European Commission has launched the “Common Research Framework for Situational Awareness on Information Integrity” call under the Digital Europe Programme. It forms a key part of the European Democracy Shield, the initiative through which the Commission reaffirmed in November 2025 its commitment to protecting the integrity of Europe's information environment.
The call responds to the increasing sophistication of online manipulation tactics, including new methods of artificially amplifying content, the malicious use of generative AI to create and distribute manipulative content, undisclosed influencer involvement, the creation of fraudulent websites, the manipulation of chatbots for deceptive purposes, and the exploitation of algorithmic vulnerabilities to amplify divisive narratives.
Against this backdrop, understanding the real impact of today's information environment is considered essential to enabling society to make informed decisions — from legislation and regulatory processes to business decisions, electoral integrity, media literacy and informed choices by citizens.
Objectives of the Common Research Framework
The funded project will contribute to research on information integrity through four main areas of work:
- Technological infrastructure: providing or developing the hardware and software infrastructure required for advanced research into information integrity.
- Interdisciplinary collaboration: overcoming existing fragmentation and silos between research teams by fostering cooperation across communities, disciplines and countries.
- Capacity building: strengthening the research capacity of the European ecosystem, including a specific allocation of funding to third parties.
- Regulatory knowledge dissemination: helping researchers understand and apply the regulatory tools available for studying online ecosystems.
Who can apply?
The call is aimed at a broad ecosystem of organisations involved in researching and verifying information online, including:
- Research institutions and universities.
- Civil society organisations.
- Fact-checking organisations.
- Technology providers with relevant capabilities in this field.
- Other stakeholders with demonstrable expertise in information integrity, disinformation or digital ecosystems.