EU denies US pressure over Lithuania disinfo event

The European Union on Thursday rejected media reports that it withdrew sponsorship of a disinformation conference in Lithuania because of US pressure, saying the decision was linked to the event's programme.

EU spokesman Christian Wigand said the bloc withdrew the logo of its EEAS diplomacy service because it was “not comfortable with the framing of some of the discussions at the event”. He said some discussions were framed in a way that did not align with official EU positions.

Wigand did not identify the discussions that raised concern and declined to say whether there had been talks with US officials, saying he would not comment on diplomatic exchanges.

Several media outlets, including The Guardian, reported that the EU and other backers, including Canada and Lithuania, dropped their sponsorship of the conference after pressure from Washington.

The conference, Disinfo2026, was taking place on Wednesday and Thursday in Vilnius. One advertised session was titled “USA as a FIMI threat: acknowledge, adapt, push back”, using an acronym for Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference. The session description said it would examine how the United States allegedly became a threat for Europe in the area of disinformation.