In recent years, disinformation—namely the deliberate spread of false information—has become one of the main threats to the quality of public debate and to the resilience of democracies.
The rapid circulation of fake news and AI-generated content through social media and digital platforms makes it increasingly difficult to identify reliable information and trustworthy channels.
Young generations are particularly affected, as they are among the main consumers of online information. At the same time, young people themselves have enormous potential as agents of change, if they are given the opportunity to develop critical thinking, information literacy, and an active role within educational and political communities.
The SEED project – Supporting European Youth Engagement against Disinformation, co-funded by the European Union, aims to counter disinformation at the local level by making young people and educational communities the key actors of the process in three European countries: Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany.
SEED puts forward an innovative methodological approach focused on the local level, on territorial relationships, and on the capacity of citizens—developed also through offline methodologies—to prevent, recognise, and respond to disinformation, and to engage in dialogue on this issue with local policymakers.
CERV-2025-CITIZENS-CIV — Citizens’ Engagement and Participation
The SEED project aims to strengthen the democratic resilience of communities and territories by starting from the active involvement of young people in countering disinformation. In a context where disinformation, artificial intelligence–generated content, and fake news increasingly influence public debate and civic participation, SEED seeks to enhance young people’s critical thinking, their ability to recognise and counter disinformation both online and offline, and their participation in the social, cultural, and political life of their local communities.
To achieve this, SEED adopts an innovative approach based on territorial and offline relationships, involving not only young people but also educational communities and local policymakers.
Direct beneficiaries: Young people (16–24); youth workers; local policymakers
Indirect beneficiaries: Communities living and operating in the contexts where the project partners and associated organisations work, and, more broadly, European citizens as a whole.
Project activities
The SEED project proposes an innovative methodological approach based on the involvement of young people in the creation of local support networks. Project partners will play a central role in bringing this approach to the five target territories of the project. This will begin with an analysis of the specific vulnerabilities of each territory (specific thematic areas, such as health or vaccines; and specific target groups or communities, such as migrants, Roma communities, LGBTQ+ communities, etc.) and with the mapping of allies or actors ready to support action against disinformation (“trust networks”).
Trust network practitioners and young people from the territories will be trained to recognise and respond to disinformation, co-developing local strategies and implementing pilot actions. Following a phase of in-depth work (“counter-disinformation labs”) and evaluation, the strategies will be refined and taken forward by local trust networks and institutions.
Throughout the project, partners will engage in several moments of exchange: some in person (in Italy at the beginning of the project; in the Netherlands approximately midway; and in Germany during the final event) and others online (through a community of practice established after the meeting in the Netherlands).