European Electoral Disinformation: Analysing the Contribution of Spanish Fact-Checking to the Elections24Check Project

Abstract

Information disorders condition electoral processes, becoming a major institutional concern. In response, the European Union and various fact-checking organisations co-organised the Elections24Check project to curb disinformation in the 2024 European elections. This research analyses the activities, strategies, and editorial behaviour of the five Spanish fact-checking agencies that are integrated into the initiative. Through a content analysis applied to 3256 publications, the findings demonstrate the maturity of the Spanish ecosystem, which led the project by contributing 32.8% of the total content. Strategically, reactive action predominated, except for Newtral, which prioritised prebunking (62.6%). Political scrutiny was minor (6.6%), focusing on major coalitions and far-right leaders. Thematically, highlights included war conflicts, migration, and national/regional frameworks utilised for emotional polarisation, displacing the focus from the strictly European debate. In conclusion, Spain consolidates itself as a cornerstone of European fact-checking. However, the results reveal inefficiencies in the project’s extended timeframe, suggesting more constrained and effective frameworks for election campaigns. Furthermore, the persistence of narratives anchored to local agendas evidences a strategic fragmentation that hinders the construction of a fully pan-European public space.