The first EAF event was held in Varazdin, Croatia, from April 21 to 24, 2023. Within it, we brought together a large number of young people, educators, and media and policy experts to discuss how fake news are formed, disseminated, and received by people in the digital sphere. Through a series of interactive workshops and living libraries, they also worked on media literacy and inspiring critical thinking of young people in order to enable them to recognize, debunk and deconstruct fake news. During the EAF event fake news within 4 thematic units were addressed: “Climate Cha(lle)nge”; “Fundamental rights in the time of COVID-19 – Right to be (dis)informed”; “Migration – the hometown of disinformation and populist campaign”; and “Euroscepticism as a democratic barrier”.
By exchanging knowledge and insights with experts and educators the participants developed a set of socially engaging awareness-raising graffiti that are addressing fake news and the importance of being socially active citizens. These graffiti represent the main product of the event and they were digitally projected in the city of Varazdin during June 2023. They served as a meeting point for numerous citizens to engage in a discussion about the impact of fake news, allowing us to reach hundreds of people with a message to engage in countering disinformation.
