The European Union, Canada and Lithuania have reportedly withdrawn from an international disinformation conference following pressure from the United States, after the Donald Trump administration objected to sessions examining Washington’s role in foreign information manipulation and interference.
According to reports by POLITICO and The Guardian, US State Department cables revealed that American officials were concerned about discussions at the annual #Disinfo2026 conference, which took place in Vilnius, Lithuania, from Wednesday to Thursday.
The event, organised by EU DisinfoLab, an independent Brussels-based non-profit organisation, brings together hundreds of researchers, journalists, technology specialists and policymakers working to counter disinformation and protect the integrity of public information.
At the centre of the dispute was a panel titled USA as a FIMI Threat: Acknowledge, Adapt, Push Back. The session examined concerns about the influence of American government officials and broader US activities, while exploring how Europe’s counter-disinformation community could strengthen its resilience without relying on Washington.
The discussion marked an apparent shift in the conference’s approach, with organisers and participants examining whether the United States itself could pose a foreign information manipulation and interference threat to Europe.
Sources and internal documents cited by The Guardian indicate that the State Department paid particular attention to the session, which featured three American speakers, including a former Central Intelligence Agency officer.
Another panel, titled Under Attack: How the Counter-Disinformation Community Is Dealing with US Government Pressure, examined the challenges facing European organisations and individuals working to combat disinformation, including concerns about potential US travel restrictions against European figures.
POLITICO reported that the State Department instructed American embassies in several European countries, as well as its mission to the EU, to communicate Washington’s objections and assess whether the governments involved in the conference agreed with the characterisation of the United States as a FIMI actor.
The diplomatic intervention has raised concerns about the potential impact of US pressure on international discussions surrounding disinformation, freedom of expression and the independence of organisations working to protect information integrity.
FIMI, an acronym for foreign information manipulation and interference, is a term used by the European Union to describe coordinated efforts, often by foreign actors, to manipulate the information environment and undermine public trust. Such activities can include the deliberate spread of false information online, with Russia and China frequently cited as examples of countries accused of conducting such operations.
In its communication, the State Department argued that the conference wrongly grouped the United States with countries such as Russia and China.
Washington maintained that the comparison was misleading and failed to account for differences in the scale and nature of Russian and Chinese interference in democratic societies.
The dispute highlights growing tensions between the Trump administration and European institutions over how disinformation should be defined, who should be held accountable for spreading it, and how governments should respond to perceived threats to information integrity.
It also raises broader questions about the balance between diplomatic pressure and the independence of researchers, journalists and civil society groups investigating the influence of governments on public debate.
