This article draws on discussions from the event "Building Resilience to Gender-Related Information Manipulation," organised by the Metamorphosis Foundation and International IDEA, part of the project "Combating Electoral Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI)," supported by Global Affairs Canada.

On November 5, 2024, International IDEA successfully hosted a one-day workshop in Brussels titled Designing a Global Methodology for Analyzing Electoral Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI). The workshop aimed to advance the development of a global methodology for analyzing electoral FIMI and brought together over 30 FIMI experts from across Europe.

The project "Combatting Electoral Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI)” is advancing in supporting civil society actors to increase their capacity to counter foreign interference during elections.

On the 13th of May, the Ivorian Human Rights Observatory (OIDH) in collaboration with International IDEA, launched the report titled “Analyse de la manipulation de l’information et de l’ingérence menées depuis l’étranger (FIMI) en Côte d’Ivoire” to share the main finding on FIMI in the country. This is the first report about FIMI made by Ivorian actors in the country and the event gathered academia, authorities and CSOs to discuss information integrity and its main challenges in the Ivory Coast. 

As foreign information manipulation grows faster, cheaper, and more sophisticated, Moldova finds itself on the front line of a new kind of democratic battlefield—one where algorithms shape opinions, hidden money fuels narratives, and influence operations move seamlessly across borders and platforms.

A new analysis examining the domestic conditions that enable foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) in North Macedonia was officially launched on 19 November in Skopje. The event, organized by the Metamorphosis Foundation and International IDEA, supported by Global Affairs Canada, convened representatives from state institutions, media, civil society, regulators, academia and international partners as part of the national Media Literacy Days.

Elections, by their nature, create a window of heightened exposure. Citizens are forming judgments on political contestants and their policies, institutions are under scrutiny, and the information environment is unusually volatile.

Election-related foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) is often understood primarily as an external threat to democracies, although this framing only captures part of the picture. After all, the first word in FIMI is “foreign” and the term itself was formalized by the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s diplomatic service. This is for good reason, as the coordinated information manipulation operations that most threaten the integrity of elections usually originate in adversarial states and their affiliates, primarily Russia and China.

Foreign manipulation of information and electoral interference were the key topics of the event hosted in Dakar on 2 October by AfricTivistes and International IDEA.