For the first time in the legislative elections on 18 May, Portugal will implement a rapid response system to report disinformation as part of the European Commission’s strategy against disinformation, according to researchers involved in the initiative.
Gustavo Cardoso, sociologist and coordinator of MediaLab, an institute for the study of communication sciences integrated into ISCTE (University Institute of Lisbon), and José Moreno, a researcher at the same institution, are collaborating with what Brussels refers to as the ‘Rapid Response System’ – RSS (Sistema de Resposta Rápida in Portuguese), which “has already been used multiple times in many European elections, but this is the first time it is being implemented in Portugal”.
The MediaLab laboratory has already monitored previous political campaigns, carried out in 2024, although not directly integrated into this European system.
“What the Commission is doing is collaborating with the EDMO ‘hub’ (European Digital Media Observatory, a European network studying the dynamics of disinformation) in Romania, with the EDMO hub in Poland, the EDMO hub in Portugal, and that is where IBERIFIER comes into play for the Portuguese case,” according to Gustavo Cardoso. Cardoso is the coordinator of IBERIFIER in Portugal.
