THE WAR IN UKRAINE AND IMMIGRATION: THE TOPICS MOST TARGETED IN JUNE IN THE EU
The 32 organisations* that are part of the EDMO fact-checking network in the European Union and Norway, and that contributed to this report, published a total of 1.361 fact-checking articles in June 2026. Of these articles, 134 (10%) focused on disinformation related to immigration; 131 (10%) on Ukraine-related disinformation; 106 (8%) on health-related disinformation (excluding COVID-19 – this is a new category that was added starting this month); 69 (5%) on disinformation related to the EU; 51 (4%) on climate change-related disinformation; 30 (2%) on the crisis in Palestine; 23 (2%) on disinformation about LGBTQ+ and gender issues; 21 (1%) on COVID-19-related disinformation; and 18 (1%) on the war between Israel/USA and Iran.
During the month of June, following the trend of previous months, the most targeted topics by disinformation were immigration and the war in Ukraine. Detected disinformation related to immigration rose by three percentage points, while Ukraine-related disinformation remained stable. As is often the case in summer, disinformation on climate change increased (this year only slightly, by one percentage point); false content targeting the LGBTQ+ community also rose by one percentage point, likely due to Pride Month celebrations.
Meanwhile, disinformation on Covid-19 decreased by three percentage points; a similar trend was recorded for disinformation on the war between the USA, Israel and Iran, which diminished by two percentage points.
The share of disinformation on the other topics monitored by these briefs remained stable, with only minor fluctuations.
AI-GENERATED DISINFORMATION QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS IN THE EU
After the drop recorded in May, the share of disinformation created or manipulated using AI has increased again by four percentage points. Out of 1.361 fact-checking articles, 210 focused on this type of content, representing 15% of the total.
The increase in AI-generated content is probably due to the viral trend of creating AI-generated fan cams – often hypersexualized – for the FIFA Men’s World Cup (see slide n.X). Among these, a viral video showed a fan dressed as Adolf Hitler while watching a Germany match. AI was also used to spread islamophobia, depicting a Danish school class taking part in a Muslim prayer, and anti-immigration sentiment, with a street allegedly vandalised by migrants following celebrations of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG)’s victory in the Champions League final. The war in Ukraine was also targeted by AI-generated disinformation, with claims providing doctored “proof” of Ukraine staging attacks and an image of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mimicking a pose of Hitler.
DISINFORMATION NARRATIVES’ ANALYSIS:
1) FIFA MEN’S WORLD CUP 2026 USED TO SPREAD RACIST, SEXIST AND POLITICAL DISINFORMATION
As the FIFA Men’s World Cup began on June 11, disinformation actors started leveraging the international resonance of the competition to spread false news. As mentioned in slide n.X, AI was widely used to create (and monetise) sexualised videos and images of women in the stadiums, but also to alter the words of match commentators, inserting racist remarks. The LGBTQ+ community was also targeted by disinformation surrounding the World Cup, with claims that the captain of the Croatian national team, Luka Modrić, would not wear a rainbow-colored armband at the tournament (a similar story circulated in Serbia, featuring tennis player Novak Djokovic at the French Open).
Politics also became a frequent theme in false stories surrounding the football tournament and its participants. Posts appeared online claiming that the Polish flag was featured on the Haiti national football team’s jerseys to honour the Polish Legions’ participation in the Haitian Revolution.
Swedish football player Lucas Bergvall was the subject of a highly political story linked to the Great Replacement theory, as false news circulated that he invited “every woman who has a crush on me to stop voting for mass migration, or my people will not exist anymore.
”The captain of the French team Kylian Mbappé also featured in a false story likely spread by pro-Russian disinformation, according to which he revealed to have left PSG for Real Madrid because of French President Emmanuel Macron.
2) THE HEATWAVE FUELS CLIMATE DENIALIST DISINFORMATION
As is often the case in the summer months and after extreme weather events, climate-related disinformation and climate change denialist claims spread on social media throughout the EU. One of the most viral claims is an evergreen and it involves the comparison of two weather forecast maps of Europe across different time periods to suggest global warming is a scam: according to this narrative, which was also fueled by AI-generated content, the current “mainstream” media spreads overly dramatic reports and fabricates heat-related deaths. Another climate change denialist story was also shared by US President Donald Trump, claiming that even the UN admitted its own errors in climate change projections.
As the heatwave swept across Europe, false content was shared claiming to show its effects: e.g. traffic lights on the streets of Germany and Italy melted due to the heat. Meanwhile, such a disinformation environment contributed to the spread of false news on renewable energy, e.g. the construction of solar power plants is more harmful to the environment than coal-fired power stations.
3) DISINFORMATION ON IMMIGRATION AND THE WAR IN UKRAINE
In June, disinformation on immigration increased, likely linked to the stabbing of a 40-year-old man that led to rioting in Belfast, Northern Ireland (a recurring issue in the past years across the UK and Ireland). False news spread in Ireland that a woman had been drugged by touching a business card given to her by “foreign nationals”. In Germany, false claims circulated that former German chancellor Angela Merkel admitted that she “deliberately flooded” her country with “immigrants from the Third World” to curb the far right. In the Netherlands, a mannequin was allegedly seized by police because Pakistani people found its clothing indecent. Moreover, recurring claims alleged that churches have been burned by Muslim people across Europe and that 250,000 girls in the UK have been sexually abused by groups with an immigrant background.
In June, anti-Ukraine disinformation was boosted by the words of the then-U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, about secret laboratories to create biological weapons in Ukraine. Pro-Russian disinformation channels also disseminated the false story that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague acknowledged Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea. Meanwhile, false claims exaggerating the economic support of EU countries to Ukraine also spread, e.g. that Germany is investing 233 million euros in housing construction in Ukraine, and Czech President Petr Pavel asked that his donated blood be sent to Ukraine. Well-known disinformation narratives about corruption of Ukrainian elites also circulated throughout the EU, e.g. that Ukrainian officials are about to buy superyachts.
An interesting case of cross-topic disinformation also claimed that Ukraine plans to bring in 4.5 million workers from Asia and Africa over the next decade, who would be granted freedom of movement within the EU if Ukraine were to join.
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