Foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) as a global threat in a year of elections

Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) has become an increasingly serious challenge for today's democratic societies, especially as over one and a half billion people have voted or are preparing to vote in 2024. This highlights the urgent need to protect democracy. The fourth edition of the London FIMI Forum, organised by the EU Delegation to the UK, directly addresses these pressing concerns. With such a significant portion of the global population participating in elections, safeguarding democratic processes from foreign interference has never been more critical.

FIMI represents a growing challenge to democratic societies, threatening the core values, procedures, and political processes that underpin them. FIMI refers to a largely non-illegal, yet manipulative and coordinated pattern of behaviour, often conducted by both state and non-state actors, including their proxies, both within and outside their territories. These activities are intentionally aimed at undermining democratic processes by manipulating information. This threat is global in scale, having already manifested in regions such as Europe and the United States, further highlighting the widespread nature of the challenge.

Given the importance of democracy, protecting it requires coordinated action. In her speechaddressing the European Parliament, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted: "For a very long time, we took it for granted. We became democrats of comfort. But today our democracies are under threat". President von der Leyen urged for strong measures at European level, including the creation of a "European Democracy Shield" to combat FIMI more effectively.

The goal of the London FIMI Forum is to foster dialogue and coordination between key EU partners, including the UK. It will delve into practical tools to the address threat FIMI poses to the democratic process and will examine how new partnerships can generate collective responses to its evolving nature. By bringing together policymakers, researchers, experts from different associations, and other like-minded partners, the forum aims to strengthen cognitive security and assess the potential for global cooperation against foreign interference.