In this inaugural report for the SmartVote project, we establish the groundwork for the projects’ intervention, aiming to provide access, knowledge and skills that allow for technology to enable autonomy and social participation in wider society. We specifically aim to tackle the issue of disinformation and its impact during electoral processes and referendums as a threat to democracy, and the role of news and journalism and technology in the process. On the technology side we will create technological resources which allow for the identification and mitigation of disinformation. The overall objective of the SmartVote project is to ensure that all people have access to, learn about, and use technology to promote their autonomy, increasing their opportunities, strengthening their rights, and encouraging their social participation. More specifically, it addresses the phenomenon of disinformation, especially during referendums and electoral periods, as it distorts the process, values, and purposes of democratic political systems. In this report we the analysis of a include a database of AI initiatives aimed at combating disinformation in Europe and abroad (n=125). The database is publicly available and can be found here. Despite the aim to stimulate positive impacts in wider society, the project will directly work with young people aged 18 to 25 in Spain and Portugal. The Iberian dimension of the project implies an added level of complexity in terms of our intervention, as despite the historical familiarity both countries are quite different at a social, territorial, political and in terms of their media ecosystem and relationship with news and journalism.

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Disinformation,Social Media,Communication,Artificial Inteligence,Electoral processes