The United States government reportedly pressured several countries to withdraw their support for a prominent European conference on disinformation, leading Canada, Lithuania, and the European Union’s diplomatic service to retract their sponsorship days before the event.
The conference, known as #Disinfo2026, gathers researchers, journalists, technologists, and policymakers focused on countering disinformation. It took place this week in Vilnius, Lithuania, and is organised by the independent Brussels-based non-profit EU Disinfo Lab. Traditionally a key gathering for Europe’s disinformation community, the event draws hundreds of participants annually.
In the days leading up to the conference, the logos of its principal backers—the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European External Action Service (EEAS), and Global Affairs Canada—were removed from the conference website. Photographs of official conference materials also revealed white stickers covering these organisations' logos, suggesting an abrupt removal from the event’s program.
According to three individuals familiar with the situation, including European officials, the US State Department engaged directly with multiple governments to express concerns about their involvement with the conference. Internal State Department documents reviewed by officials corroborate this outreach. One such document expresses appreciation to Lithuania for “taking US concerns seriously” and describes Washington’s gratitude that Lithuania found a panel framing the United States as a foreign disinformation threat “reprehensible and surprising.” The document also welcomed Lithuania’s decision to curtail its participation.
A focal point of US objections was a conference panel titled “USA as a FIMI threat: adapt, acknowledge, push back,” with FIMI standing for “foreign information manipulation and interference.” The session, held Wednesday, examined how Europe’s disinformation community might enhance resilience without reliance on Washington. This marked a significant development, as it was reportedly the first time the conference explicitly examined the possibility of the United States acting as a disinformation actor within Europe. The panel featured three American speakers, including a former CIA officer.
Sources indicate that communications urging the withdrawal of support for the event may have come from the office of Sarah B. Rogers, US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy.
Nina Jankowicz, a former US official and disinformation expert who briefly led the Biden administration’s Disinformation Governance Board in 2022, noted the complexities involved in addressing foreign information influence, though she did not comment directly on this particular episode.
The developments highlight tensions surrounding narratives of disinformation and the role of various state actors within Europe’s efforts to combat information manipulation. The removal of high-profile sponsors from the conference underscores the sensitive nature of addressing disinformation when it implicates powerful Western countries themselves.