European Digital Media Observatory Hubs

The European Digital Media Observatory Hubs funding opportunity, designated as DIGITAL-2026-BESTUSE-TECH-EDMO-09-HUBS, aims to bolster the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) platform in its efforts to combat disinformation. This initiative is part of the Digital Europe Programme and has a total budget of €6,000,000, with expectations to distribute this across about eight grants, each averaging around €750,000.

The call is set to open on November 4, 2025, with a submission deadline of March 3, 2026. It operates under a single-stage submission process, meaning that applicants will submit one comprehensive proposal for review. The funding is targeted at a multidisciplinary community, including research institutions, universities, fact-checking organizations, media literacy practitioners, and NGOs, particularly those focused on disinformation issues.

Key objectives of the funding include maintaining and expanding a platform that supports EDMO operations, enhancing language coverage, and improving operational capacities for fact-checking across Europe. Specific activities will include monitoring disinformation trends and narratives, investigating AI tools for combatting disinformation, and supporting data access for researchers. The funding is also seen as a means to intensify collaboration among various stakeholders in the media, education, technology, and cybersecurity sectors.

While the exact co-funding rates are not mentioned, projects typically require a contribution of around 25-50% of their budget from other sources. The call emphasizes the necessity of consortium applications that demonstrate regional and thematic collaboration across EU member states. Although there are no specified countries outlined in the call, eligibility is generally confined to EU member states and associated countries, with potential support for neighboring regions.

This funding opportunity aims not only to enhance EDMO's operational capabilities but also to foster public resilience against disinformation through media literacy initiatives and awareness campaigns. By focusing on innovation and adaptation to emerging threats, the initiative strives to create a robust framework for addressing disinformation in Europe, positioning itself as a key component in the fight for information integrity and democratic discourse.

The EU funding opportunity DIGITAL-2026-BESTUSE-TECH-EDMO-09-HUBS, under the call "Accelerating the Best Use of Technologies" (DIGITAL-2026-BESTUSE-TECH-EDMO-09), aims to support the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) in its fight against disinformation. The EU supports the capacity of a multidisciplinary community to understand, monitor and counter disinformation. The objective is to maintain and further develop a platform supporting the operations of EDMO, as well as deepening the language coverage and operational capacity of fact-checking in Europe. The action type is DIGITAL-SME Digital SME Support Actions, with a DIGITAL Action Grant Budget-Based [DIGITAL-AG] Model Grant Agreement (MGA).

The expected outcome is the continued maintenance and support of a platform for joint activities to analyse and respond to disinformation. EDMO will conduct and coordinate investigations, targeted research, monitoring, and media literacy and communication activities across Europe through national/multinational research hubs.

The funding will consolidate EDMO’s role by: operating a platform with tools and services for the EDMO community (researchers, fact-checkers, media literacy practitioners, and other stakeholders), fostering and coordinating research activities and open-source investigations on disinformation at the European level, monitoring disinformation trends and narratives across the EU (including pre- and debunking), investigating and fostering the development and use of novel tools such as Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI to respond to addressing current challenges in the disinformation landscape, including AI-generated disinformation and deepfakes, and in this respect also collaborate with ongoing Horizon Europe projects working on AI-tools to fight disinformation, monitoring and reacting to disinformation threats related to crisis situations and elections (including pre- and debunking) and emerging disinformation waves (including assistance to neighborhood countries through dedicated actions and targeted communication), supporting targeted activities to facilitate access to data for researchers, supporting activities related to the implementation of the 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation, coordinating and carrying out tailor-made media literacy activities and campaigns at the European level, carrying out proactive communication and outreach activities through various channels to increase societal resilience to disinformation, and conducting targeted communication campaigns about EDMO’s activities.

The call follows a single-stage submission process. The planned opening date is 04 November 2025, and the deadline is 03 March 2026 at 17:00:00 Brussels time. The total budget for the topic is EUR 6,000,000, with an indicative number of 8 grants.

Admissibility conditions include proposal page limits and layout, as described in section 5 of the call document and Part B of the Application Form in the Submission System. Eligible countries are described in section 6 of the call document, along with other eligible conditions. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria are detailed in section 7 of the call document. Submission and evaluation processes are described in section 8 of the call document and the Online Manual. Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in section 9 of the call document. The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is described in section 4 of the call document. The legal and financial setup of the grants is described in section 10 of the call document.

The call document and annexes include the CALL DOCUMENT, a Standard application form (DEP) available in the Submission System, a Model Grant Agreement (MGA) DEP MGA, DEP Work Programmes, DEP Regulation 2021/964, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment, EU Grants AGA Annotated Model Grant Agreement, Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions, and Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement.

There are 4 partner search announcements available. LEARs, Account Administrators, and self-registrants can publish partner requests for open and forthcoming topics. The submission system is planned to open on the date stated in the topic header. For help, applicants can contact the provided email address or consult the Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ and IT Helpdesk. The Online Manual provides a step-by-step guide through the Portal processes.

In summary, this EU funding opportunity aims to bolster the fight against disinformation by supporting the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO). It seeks to enhance EDMO's platform, expand fact-checking capabilities, and foster collaboration among fact-checkers, researchers, and media literacy practitioners. The funding will facilitate investigations, research, monitoring, and media literacy activities, ultimately increasing the resilience of European citizens to disinformation. The call encourages the use of innovative tools like AI and collaboration with other relevant projects. The application process involves a single-stage submission, with a deadline in March 2026, and offers a total budget of EUR 6,000,000 to be distributed among approximately 8 grants.

Eligible Applicant Types: The call is a DIGITAL-SME Digital SME Support Action, suggesting that SMEs are a key target. However, the description mentions a multidisciplinary community including researchers, fact-checkers, media literacy practitioners, and other relevant stakeholders, implying that universities, research institutes, media organizations, and potentially NGOs could also be eligible. The call is geared towards supporting the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), so entities that can contribute to its operation and objectives are likely eligible.

Funding Type: The funding type is a DIGITAL Action Grant Budget-Based [DIGITAL-AG]. This indicates a grant.

Consortium Requirement: The call aims to support the operational cooperation between fact-checkers, researchers and media literacy practitioners, suggesting that a consortium approach is favored, although not explicitly stated. The mention of national/multinational research hubs also points towards collaborative projects.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The call focuses on activities throughout Europe and across national/multinational research hubs, indicating that the geographic eligibility is primarily for entities within the EU. The call also mentions giving assistance to neighborhood countries through dedicated actions, suggesting some eligibility for entities in those countries as well, although the primary focus remains on the EU.

Target Sector: The primary target sector is media and digital, specifically focusing on countering disinformation. This includes fact-checking, media literacy, artificial intelligence, and monitoring of online content. Related sectors include ICT, research, education, and security/cybersecurity.

Mentioned Countries: The call focuses on activities throughout Europe and across the national/multinational research hubs. It also mentions giving assistance to neighborhood countries.

Project Stage: The project stage is focused on maintaining and further developing an existing platform (EDMO), as well as deepening the language coverage and operational capacity of fact-checking. This suggests a focus on development, validation, and potentially scale-up of existing initiatives.

Funding Amount: The topic budget is EUR 6,000,000. The indicative number of grants is 8, suggesting that the funding range per grant is around EUR 6,000,000.

Application Type: The deadline model is single-stage, indicating a single application round. The application is submitted through the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a grant.

Application Stages: The application process is single-stage.

Success Rates: The success rate cannot be determined from the provided text.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly mention a co-funding requirement.

Summary: This EU funding opportunity, DIGITAL-2026-BESTUSE-TECH-EDMO-09-HUBS, aims to combat disinformation by supporting the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO). The EU is providing a total budget of EUR 6,000,000 to fund approximately 8 projects. The call is open to a multidisciplinary community, including SMEs, researchers, fact-checkers, and media literacy practitioners, primarily from within the EU, although some activities may extend to neighboring countries. The projects should focus on maintaining and developing the EDMO platform, fostering research on disinformation, monitoring disinformation trends, investigating the use of AI to counter disinformation, supporting media literacy activities, and carrying out communication campaigns. The application process is single-stage, with a deadline of March 3, 2026. The call seeks to consolidate EDMO's role as a key player in the fight against disinformation in Europe by enhancing its platform, expanding fact-checking capabilities, and increasing societal resilience to disinformation.