EU's post truth and populism project aided by Goldsmiths research
Primary page content
Professor Saul Newman investigated the relationship between post-truth and right-wing populism as part of an EU project aiming to create evidence-based policy recommendations.
Professor Newman was part of the team of academics from a consortium of European universities working on the three-year, EU Horizon-funded project ‘RECLAIM: Reclaiming Liberal Democracy in the Post-factual Age,’ which draws to a close in September 2025.
The outputs of this project have included journal papers, a special journal issue, two edited books and policy recommendations presented to EU bodies. Professor Newman’s work on the relationship between populism and mis/disinformation, and the impact of post-truth on liberal democracy, included briefing EU policy makers about social media regulation and democratic resilience.
Professor Newman’s research found that mis- and disinformation, which is often utilised by right-wing populist actors, leads to fragmentation in the public sphere, and weakens the space for constructive debate and exchange of ideas. Disinformation is particularly prevalent around certain themes, such as immigration and net-zero targets.
Professor Newman said, “Liberal democracy relies on the public sphere as a place for debate and deliberation, where certain discursive rules are agreed on, and which relies on access to facts and information as its foundation. Fragmentation of groups into different echo chambers, where they are only interacting with like-minded people, erodes this public sphere.”
Right-wing populism is both a symptom and a cause of post-truth. Right-wing populist mis- / disinformation undermines values that are central to liberal democracy, such as due process, the rule of law, individual rights and respect for minority groups.
Saul Newman, Professor of Political Theory, School of Global Change
The project outcomes call for measures to combat misinformation, such new forms of citizenship education which encourage media literacy and show the value of open debate and dialogue, as well as making quality journalism more accessible.
Professor Newman’s research calls for a new policy regime for social media in Europe, with his recommendations including fact-checking large language models (LLMs), making algorithms transparent, and setting up citizen-managed social media councils.
The consortium was led by the University of Iceland and included the Institue of International Relations (Czech Republic), the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain), the Trans European Policy Studies Association (Belgium), the University of Oslo – ARENA (Norway), the Jagiellonian University (Poland), Scuola Normale Superiore (Italy), Istituto Affari Internazionali (Italy), the Institute for Development and International Relations (Croatia), New Bulgarian University (Bulgaria) and the Liechtenstein Institute (Liechtenstein), alongside Goldsmiths.