US retaliates after being labeled disinformation threat in EU – media

Washington reportedly pressured governments over an event organized by an NGO that once branded critics of the French president “Russian bots”

Published 8 Oct, 2026 13:481/2

Washington has reportedly pressured several governments to withdraw their support for a conference organized by an EU-funded “anti-disinfo” NGOthat designated the US a potential source of foreign disinformation.

The event host is EU DisinfoLab, one of Brussels’ info-gatekeepers deployed to scapegoat and smear dissidents opposing the bloc’s political course. The NGO notoriously launched its career by labeling online critics of French President Emmanuel Macron as “Russophiles.”

Organizers of the #Disinfo2026 conferencein Vilnius, Lithuania, reportedly classified theUS as a “foreign information manipulation and interference” (FIMI) actor, according to two news outlets with insider sources in Brussels. The EU normally uses the term to describe alleged malicious online activities by geopolitical rivals such as Russia and China.

By the time the conference opened, the logos of the EU’s diplomatic service, the European External Action Service (EEAS), and the foreign ministries of Canada and Lithuaniahad disappeared from all material, leaving only the French Foreign Ministry and the Vilnius city administration.

Rapporteur, formerly known as Euractiv, attributed the changes to apressure campaign initiated by American writer Michael Shellenberger, who withdrew as a speaker after learning that the US had been designated a FIMI actor.

Politico cited the US State Department and cables instructing American embassies to convey Washington’s objections.

“Labeling the United States a ‘FIMI threat’ – a term normally reserved for describing influence operations of adversaries – undermines shared goals and should alarm those involved,”officials told the outlet.

Experts in (spreading) disinformation

The Russiagate hoax, involving a concerted campaign by former US President Barack Obama and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, to falsely claim US President Donald Trump was somehow compromised by links to Russia, helped fuel the emergence of an industry of self-described experts in combating online disinformation and misinformation. Critics have accusedsuch organizations of serving as proxies for government-backed censorshipthat authorities cannot impose directly.

Belgium-based EU DisinfoLab first attracted widespread attention in 2018, when it alleged Russian efforts to amplify a political scandal involving Macron’s security aide, Alexandre Benalla, who had been filmed assaulting protesters while wearing police equipment.

The NGO’s research identified alleged “Russian bots” and “French Russophile” Twitter accounts supposedly fueling public outrage over the affair. Critics questioned its methodology, prompting the organization to publish detailed information about the accounts it had studied, including those of opposition politicians Jean-Luc Melenchon and Marine Le Pen.

In 2022, theBelgian Data Protection Authority (APD)fined EU DisinfoLab €2,700 ($3,000) and its lead researcher, Nicolas Vanderbiest, €1,200 ($1,300), while formally reprimanding both. The regulator, which investigated the case in cooperation with France’s data protection authority, the CNIL, found that the researchers hadunlawfully processed personal datarevealing political opinions and exposed users to potential discrimination through political profiling.

The decision prompted French National Rally MEP Virginie Joronto question whether EU DisinfoLab should continue receiving funding from Brussels. Grants allocated by the European Commission to the NGO over the years have added up to at least €1.4 million ($1.6 million), according to financial disclosures.

https://www.rt.com/news/646919-us-disinformation-conference-eu/

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It’s a small disinfo world

EU DisinfoLab’s leadership reflects the close ties between the Western “counter-disinformation” industry and government-backed infowarfare operations.

Board member Emma Le Mesurier is the widow and former colleague of James Le Mesurier, a former British Army officer who helped establish the White Helmets in Syria. The Western-funded group aided jihadist forces in overthrowing President Bashar Assad.

Fellow board memberAndy Pryceis a veteran British diplomat who launched and led the Foreign Office’s program intended to thwart Russian strategic communications. His name alsoappeared in the “UK Cluster”of the Integrity Initiative, a British-funded media manipulation project exposed by the leak of its internal documents in 2018.

Former board member and researcher Camille Francois worked on an investigation into the 2016 “Russian interference” in the US on behalf of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Laser-focused away from Western disinformation

The EU DisinfoLab annual conference program includes a yoga session and discussions of “identity-based disinformation” and “Russia’s global information war.” Cases of debunked Western disinformation, plentiful as they are,received little attention.

One example was the alleged Russian attempt to jam the navigation system of a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over Bulgaria last year. The story unravelled when Bulgarian authorities said their monitoring systems had detected no GPS interference, contrary to statements by EU officials.

A similar case last month involved a claim that a Russian drone had nearly struck a plane carrying Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, which Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store stated during a joint press conference.

However, Moldovan authorities later clarified that Zelensky’s flight from Chisinau to Oslo had merely been briefly delayed by a drone alert. The drone in question crashed some 160 km from the airport.

https://www.rt.com/news/646919-us-disinformation-conference-eu/

Democrats call on Chuck Grassley to apologize to Jack Smith for basketball gaffe

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Republicans violated Senate rules.

By Chris Marquette 10/08/2026 4:45 AM EDT1/2(More Bullshit from Democrats)

Senate Judiciary Democrats are asking chair Chuck Grassley to apologize to Jack Smith on the behalf of his GOP committee members — especially for Sen. Eric Schmitt, the Missouri Republican who falsely accused Smith of secretly attending an NBA game in Atlanta to conspire with local prosecutors about bringing charges against President Donald Trump.

The letter, spearheaded by ranking member Dick Durbin of Illinois and obtained exclusively by POLITICO, also demands Grassley turn over the underlying records Schmitt used during a hearing last month to levy the false allegations against Smith, the Biden-era special counsel investigating whether Trump sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election and mishandled classified documents.

The episode, Democrats wrote, “caused needless confusion, slowed down the business of the Committee, introduced the possibility that false information would be entered uncontested into the record, and created an embarrassing stain on one of the most important committees in Congress.”

The Democratic letter to Republicans marks an escalation of the typical bickering between the two parties. It’s also reopening a not-yet-closed wound for Republicans, whose efforts to damage Smith’s reputation during their high-profile hearing were blunted by Schmitt’s error.

Congressional Republicans have for years been working to undermine Smith’s investigations as politically motivated, and many GOP senators on the Judiciary Committee hoped to use their hearing with Smith to catch him in either a lie or an admission he weaponized the judicial system against Trump.

To that end, Schmitt used a giant poster to display images of text messages from Smith’s team in an attempt to prove the special counsel was in Atlanta on Feb. 3, 2024, for an NBA basketball game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Golden State Warriors — scheduled around the same time local prosecutor Fani Willis, who was working to convict Trump over his 2020 election subversion scheme, was facing damaging questions about her conduct.

Smith ultimately clarified he did not attend the NBA game on that date but was instead at a women’s basketball game at the University of Maryland between the Terrapins and the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, then led by star player Caitlin Clark. The exchange went viral and Schmitt continues to show no regret for his apparent misunderstanding.

The text messages “established only that Senator Schmitt had not done the basic due diligence of verifying a document before relying on it,” the Democrats wrote in their letter to Grassley, adding that,“nonetheless, Senator Schmitt incorrectly asserted to Mr. Smith, ‘I think you’ve already perjured yourself,’ and inexcusably branded him ‘a dirtbag,’ language which is beneath the dignity of this Committee and the Senate.”

And because Democrats didn’t have advance access to the materials Schmitt referenced in his presentation during the hearing, they said they were “were forced to synthesize these baseless accusations and respond in real time.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/08/democrats-judiciary-jack-smith-eric-schmitt-01110755

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Democrats also took aim at another record they say was not shared with them ahead of time: a readout of an Aug. 17, 2024, phone call between Smith and the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department, which Schmitt and fellow Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley both referred to during the Senate Judiciary hearing.

The notes from that phone call, which Hawley mentioned during his questioning of Smith, indicated the Public Integrity Section advised Smith to wait to file an updated indictment against Trump until after the 2024 presidential election. Smith had originally sought to file an amended indictment in the 2020 election subversion case following the Supreme Court’s ruling that Trump had broad immunity for official actions undertaken as president.

Smith testified during the hearing that several drafts of a superseding indictment were passed back and forth before one was ultimately approved and filed in August 2024.

“We ask that you immediately provide all committee records that you have withheld, commit to fully complying with Senate Rules … going forward, and apologize to Mr. Smith on behalf of the Committee,” the Senate Judiciary Democrats wrote.

Clare Slattery, a spokesperson for Grassley, said in a statement, “it’s Jack Smith who owes an apology to the thousands of Americans he and his staff ran roughshod over.”

Spokespeople for Smith, Schmitt and Hawley did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/08/democrats-judiciary-jack-smith-eric-schmitt-01110755

BBC pays white staff less than ethnic minorities – report

Black, Asian, and mixed-race employees earn up to 13.2% more than white colleagues, the broadcaster’s own figures show

Published 8 Oct, 2026 14:12

White employees at the BBC earnless than their ethnic minority colleagues in six of seven salary grades, according to the British broadcaster’s 2025/26 annual report. The figures have raised new questions about the corporation’s drive to promote ethnic minority staff and its possible impact on pay.

According to the BBC’s 2025/26 pay gap report, highlighted by The Telegraph on Wednesday,black, Asian, mixed-race and other ethnic minority employees earn 13.2% more in median hourly pay than white colleagues in the lowest salary band. Even among the broadcaster’s most senior executives, the gap stands at 5.3%.

White employees came out ahead in just one category, where their median hourly pay was 0.6% higher. Across the BBC as a whole, however,white staff still earned 0.7% more, largely because they held a greater share of the highest-paid jobs.

The pay figures have drawn attention to the BBC’s push to advance ethnic minority employees. The broadcaster runs special mentoring and career development programs designed to help Black, Asian and other minority staff climb the career ladder, raising questions about whether the drive could be contributing to the pay gaps.

The corporation has set a target for ethnic minorities to make up 20% of both its workforce and senior leadership. The BBC insists these are goals rather than quotas and says they have no bearing on pay decisions.

Former UK Culture Secretary John Whittingdale questioned the BBC’s pay practices, telling The Telegraph that thebroadcaster “ought to be paying staff entirely on the basis of the value and merit they contribute for the job they are doing.”

He said theBBC had previously moved to correct gender pay disparities and should apply the same principle of “fair pay” regardless of race, sexuality, or gender.

The broadcaster has faced repeated scandals over unequal pay. In 2020, journalist Samira Ahmed won a landmark employment tribunal case after judges found that she had been paid less than male presenter Jeremy Vine for equivalent work.

In 2024, four female BBC presenters accused the corporation of sex and age discrimination following a shake-up of its news division. In November 2025, the BBC disclosed six internal equal pay cases, including two appeals.

The BBC has rejected suggestions that the latest figures demonstrate unequal treatment, saying it is “committed to fair and equal pay for all.”

https://www.rt.com/news/646933-bbc-white-staff-ethnic-minorities-pay-gap/