the threat of scientific misinformation to integrity, competitiveness and democracy

25 November 2025

The event brought together policymakers, publishers, scientific organisations and civil society representatives to examine the growing challenge of fake science and its implications for democratic resilience, research integrity and European competitiveness. Discussions focused on how misinformation affects public trust, how research systems can strengthen their internal safeguards, and how cooperation across sectors can reinforce the reliability of scientific evidence. Speakers explored the interaction between technological change, governance frameworks and public understanding, underlining the importance of coordinated action to protect the credibility of science in the European Union.

Fake science

 

Opening Remarks

Lina Gálvez MEP underlined the urgency of addressing the rise of fake science and its impact on integrity, competitiveness and democracy. She stressed that trust in evidence and expertise is central to the European Union’s innovation capacity and warned that scientific misinformation is becoming a structural threat that undermines public confidence, polarises societies and weakens evidence based policymaking. She noted the role of technology and platforms in amplifying false information while also offering tools to counter it. She recalled recent STOA work on generative AI and data sovereignty to illustrate how technology and governance interact in shaping the information space. She also pointed to ongoing EU initiatives, including preparations for Framework Programme 10, the ERA Act and the forthcoming European Data Union strategy, as essential steps to strengthen research integrity and protect the foundations of democratic deliberation. She called for closer cooperation across sectors to reinforce scientific literacy, open research and reliable fact checking. 

The Commission's perspective

Katja Reppel highlighted the relevance of the recently adopted European Democracy Shield, which she explained rests on safeguarding the information space, strengthening democratic institutions and boosting societal resilience. She stressed that disinformation and foreign manipulation threaten trust in democratic processes and outlined upcoming measures in media and digital literacy, youth engagement and evidence based policymaking. She recalled Eurobarometer findings showing declining trust in institutions and described how academic freedom and research integrity are increasingly challenged, including within the EU. She emphasised the need for transparent research funding, robust peer review and protection for researchers facing harassment or political pressure. She noted that AI tools risk amplifying low quality information while the paywalled nature of scientific literature limits machine access to reliable sources. She underlined that high quality data and independent review remain essential for safeguarding scientific integrity and supporting democratic decision making. 

Stakeholder Perspectives

Caroline Sutton emphasised that publishers view the integrity of the scholarly record as a core responsibility and warned that misinformation and deliberate manipulation of research create significant societal risks. She referred to global data showing widespread difficulty in assessing information credibility, alongside rising tolerance for intentionally spreading falsehoods. She explained that publishers maintain and repair the knowledge infrastructure and are investing heavily in tools to detect integrity issues, including those linked to AI driven paper mills. She noted a steep rise in fraudulent submissions and described how publishers are collaborating across the sector to identify and prevent systemic manipulation. She also pointed to cross stakeholder initiatives that bring together funders, researchers, libraries and publishers to strengthen integrity safeguards. She argued that protecting trusted sources of knowledge requires humility, openness and constructive dialogue, and called for sustained cooperation across society to counter the spread of fake science. 

Daniel Kaiser stressed that fake science has become an existential threat to both scientific systems and democratic decision making. He warned that industrialised fraud, including large scale paper mills, undermines the trustworthiness of scientific outputs and weakens the evidence base that democratic institutions rely on. He recalled that current incentive structures often reward publication volume rather than quality, creating vulnerabilities that allow fraudulent or low quality work to enter the scholarly record. He emphasised the need for aligned research integrity standards across the European Research Area and highlighted the role of the ALLEA code of conduct as a shared reference point. He argued that reforms in research assessment, including moving away from narrow metrics, are essential to remove incentives that enable the spread of fake science. He called for coordinated action among policymakers, publishers and the scientific community to update integrity frameworks for the AI era and ensure that scientific knowledge remains reliable and verifiable. 

Tracey Brown argued that addressing systemic drivers of misinformation requires a clearer understanding of how online environments amplify outrage and distort public debate. She stressed that citizens are often exposed to misleading content not by choice but through opaque algorithmic systems, and warned against framing misinformation as a problem of individual behaviour. She outlined the work of Sense about Science in equipping the public and decision makers with better questions to interrogate evidence, including initiatives on data science, modelling and risk communication. She highlighted examples where researchers and citizens jointly improved transparency, such as campaigns on clinical trial reporting and evidence disclosure in policymaking. She cautioned that scientific institutions risk being swept into broader public distrust if they are perceived as elite or disconnected from societal concerns. She called for greater visibility of public service roles, including statisticians and librarians, and emphasised the importance of defending independent research as a public good.

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