The aim is to equip local administrations with practical tools to identify, understand, and counter disinformation in emergency and natural disaster contexts.
The Valencian Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, which represents the 542 local councils in the region, has been promoting continuous training programs for public employees since 1996 as an essential tool to provide quality public services and strengthen municipal development. As part of its training offer, experts from Fundación Maldita.es, through its education area, will deliver three sessions and develop specific teaching materials with useful tools and resources to tackle disinformation from within public administration. These materials will form part of an online course.
The DANA in Valencia and other parts of Spain highlighted how quickly hoaxes and false narratives spread on social media and digital platforms. Climate conspiracy theories, rumors about critical infrastructure, or manipulated messages multiplied, generating distrust and confusion and hindering the public management of the emergency. More recently, events such as the April blackout or wildfires across the Iberian Peninsula have reinforced the urgency of training public teams to respond effectively to disinformation in order to prevent the impact of a crisis from worsening. The course content will focus on understanding how disinformation operates in emergency situations, using these cases as reference points.
The training will include analysis of hoaxes and disinformative narratives in climate crisis contexts, as well as their effects on public management and public trust. It will also address the use of active listening and verification tools to identify disinformation, alongside strategies to strengthen critical thinking. In addition, it will promote the responsible use of information on social media and digital platforms during emergencies.