DW and Partners Take on Information Manipulation with FIMI-RESIST Project
,On 1 September 2026, DW Research and Cooperation Projects started a new project that focuses on so-called Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI). Ten partners from nine European countries have joined forces and embarked on a 30-months journey: The project team will evaluate existing solutions and approaches, aiming to bring them together in an effort towards a harmonised framework.
In FIMI-RESIST, the DW ReCo team will continue its work in the domain of countering disinformation. Led and co-ordinated by Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, project partners from across Europe are contributing a variety of skills and expertise to the project:
Centre for Research and Technology Hellas – CERTH
Cyfluence Research Center – CRC (Germany)
Kempelen Institute of Intelligent Technologies – KINIT (Slovakia)
Logically/INSIKT (UK and Spain)
Their uniting aim and ambition: to counter FIMI – and do so under real-world conditions.
The project partners will examine which existing (European) tools, services and approaches are designed to support the likes of journalists and fact checkers, among others, to effectively counter FIMI in all its forms and guises. Partners will not build any new tools, but rather focus on bringing together what is there already. This follows the identified need to focus on the provision of a common framework that systematically evaluates the effectiveness of existing tools and approaches, comparing their performance and bringing them together as suitable and possible. Rather than developing another stand-alone service or tool, FIMI-RESIST will establish a shared evaluation and harmonization framework for existing European solutions, using common criteria and shared benchmarks.
One objective of this approach: to generate more robust evidence about which approaches are best suited to specific users, operational settings, and threat scenarios. Consequently, the project will work with journalists, factcheckers, security stakeholders, and civil society organizations to find out how best to support them in their work, and in which way tools and solutions can best be integrated into their workflows and operational procedures; all at a time when AI permanently produces new threats and means to produce and spread disinformation.
Also planned, and rounding up project activities: setting up a help desk and European hub, as well as offering trainings of various types and formats to ensure longevity of project results. Ideally, project outcomes will also inform and support the European regulatory debate, especially in the context of the Digital Services Act, the AI Act, and the European Media Freedom Act.
Project resources and funding info
Official Website: https://fimi-resist.eu
FIMI-RESIST on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fimi-resist
FIMI-RESIST on CORDIS: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101285890
The project is co-funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe Programme for research and innovation – Grant number GA 101285890.
