Social network X is the main channel used for disinformation activities against the European Union, with politicians as the primary target, according to a report published today by the EU’s diplomatic service.
In a report titled “Threats of foreign interference and information manipulation,” the European External Action Service (EEAS) states that of around 43,000 disinformation-related pieces of content analysed in 2025, 88% passed through X — owned by US magnate Elon Musk — far ahead of messaging app Telegram (3%) or Facebook (2%).
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“The presence of networks of coordinated inauthentic behaviour, the ease of creating fake accounts, but also easier access to data explains this concentration. Most major social media platforms restrict access to data that would allow the scale of information manipulation to be assessed,” the EEAS explains.
Despite X’s dominance, the report notes that in most disinformation campaigns, actors tend to operate simultaneously across multiple platforms with different accounts, combining social media posts with messages on apps such as WhatsApp or Telegram, with the aim of infiltrating the information space to boost visibility and credibility while targeting specific audiences based on sociodemographic and geographic factors.
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The use of artificial intelligence in disinformation campaigns targeting the EU is becoming increasingly prevalent, with a 259% increase compared to 2024. “Russian and Chinese actors have fully deployed AI tools to accelerate content production and increase interference activities with fewer resources,” the report states, in line with analysis from a European official who indicated that AI is making these operations significantly cheaper.
In its analysis, the EEAS found that the majority of attacks (66%) target politicians, with particular focus on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
In most cases, campaigns against these figures are primarily “attacks on what an individual represents (such as democratic values or principles)” and attempts to “instrumentalise the platform they have to reach specific audiences.”
Among organisations targeted, political entities again lead with 36% of attacks, followed by media organisations (23%) and military or security organisations (22%). Electoral periods are the most common context for disinformation campaigns, alongside popular protests or disturbances, which are exploited to “feed perceptions of chaos, fear and disorder, generally against local administrations.”
The EEAS notes that the report should not be “interpreted as exhaustive” in terms of disinformation threats, as it derives from monitoring that does not cover “all regions and languages” and “only represents a small portion of these actors’ activities.”
