EU drops sponsorship of disinformation conference at Trump officials’ request

Lithuania and Canada were also pressured to withdraw, and days before #Disinfo2026, logos were wiped off website

The Trump administration pressured multiple countries to withdraw their sponsorship of a leading European conference on disinformation, with Canada, Lithuania and the EU’s diplomatic service subsequently agreeing to do so, the Guardian understands.

Days before the conference, the logos of its main supporters – the Lithuanian ministry of foreign affairs, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry – were wiped off its website. Photos of the event shared with the Guardian also show white stickers affixed over the logos of these organisations printed on official conference materials, appearing to indicate they were struck from the program in haste.

Three persons familiar with the matter, including European officials, confirmed that the US state department had been in touch with multiple governments over their support for the conference.

That panel – called “USA as a FIMI threat: adapt, acknowledge, push back”, with the acronym FIMI referring to “foreign information manipulation and interference” – took place Wednesday. It explored how Europe’s disinformation community could rebuild resilience without Washington, and is the first time the conference appears to have entertained the idea that the US could be a disinformation actor in Europe. Sources and the internal document indicate the state department was explicitly focused on this panel, which included three American speakers, among them a former CIA officer.

Nina Jankowicz, a former US official and disinformation expert who in 2022 briefly headed the Biden administration’s Disinformation Governance Board, which Republicans assailed as a vehicle for policing Americans’ speech, said she understood that Washington had pressured Lithuania and Canada to withdraw from the conference. The Guardian understood from French officials that France was contacted as well.

In statements, Lithuania, Canada and the EU said the program of the conference did not align with their official views on the US role in disinformation – although that program had been in place for months before they withdrew their support, since June.

Global Affairs Canada “carefully assesses participation in, and sponsorship of, external events on a case-by-case basis,” GAC spokesperson Samantha Lafleur said. “Following changes to the framing of several panel discussions, GAC decided to revise its participation in those sessions at the EU DisinfoLab 2026 conference.”

An EU spokesperson confirmed that the European External Action Service had decided to withdraw its support from the conference because “the organisers chose to frame some of the discussions in a way which does not align with the official positions held by the EU.”

Despite withdrawing its branding as an official supporter, the EU continues to fund the conference.

A diplomatic source at France’s foreign ministry said “there’s absolutely no reason for us to change our commitments” when it came to supporting the conference.

The US state department has taken an increasingly interventionist posture towards free speech and civil society in Europe over the past year. The Guardian has revealed that the state department is awarding millions of dollars in non-competitive grants to organisations across the continent supportive of Trump’s agenda.