DisinfoHack 2025, the first of its kind educational and innovative initiative in Bulgaria aimed at combating misinformation, was launched on March 12, 2025, at the GATE Institute. For two months, participants will work on developing sustainable solutions to increase information literacy and digital sustainability in society.
DisinfoHack 2025 is the first “slow hackathon” of its kind in Bulgaria, bringing together students, experts, journalists and professionals to develop sustainable solutions to combat disinformation. Unlike traditional formats that take place within 48 hours, DisinfoHack 2025 will last for two months. Participants will go through a series of trainings, mentoring sessions, and hands-on challenges aimed at developing innovative strategies to identify and mitigate misinformation in the digital environment. It will culminate in a closing event on May 8, 2025, where the best projects will be presented.
The hackathon is organized within the CoDE – Countering Disinformation Environment in Bulgaria project and is supported by the Faculty of Economics and Philosophy of Sofia University, the GATE Institute, the European Software Institute, ICT – BAS, WebCentric, Contipso and Identrics.
DisinfoHack 2025 participants will have the opportunity to work on key topics related to the spread of misinformation in society and develop strategies and solutions to identify, analyze, and counter manipulative narratives. These include: Bulgaria joining the eurozone (identifying fake news related to the adoption of the euro; analyzing disinformation campaigns related to the economic impact of eurozone membership; using digital tools for fact-checking and monitoring media content); the war in Ukraine (spreading propaganda and its impact on democratic processes); NATO in Bulgaria. Bulgaria in NATO (misinformation and myths about NATO’s role in Bulgaria); Migration (spread of misinformation and manipulative narratives about migration processes; fact-checking and media literacy as a tool to resist manipulation).
The official opening was attended by leading experts, academics and representatives of institutions and companies. Nikolay Dotsev, Head of the Office of the Minister of Defense, welcomed the participants on behalf of Minister Atanas Zapryanov. He emphasized the importance of critical thinking in today’s information environment and called for the promotion of a culture of transparency, accountability and trust as a key mechanism to counter misinformation.
Assoc. Prof. Todor Yalamov, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Economics, delivered a welcome speech on behalf of Dean Assoc. Prof. Dr. Atanas Georgiev and emphasized the economic dimensions of misinformation. He emphasized that disinformation, propaganda and organized crime function as part of a business model that generates significant financial resources.
Assoc. Velizar Shalamanov, Capability Coordinator of the CoDE project, pointed out that DisinfoHack is an innovative hackathon that can lay the foundations for a more structured and sustainable ecosystem to counter disinformation.
Prof. Neli Ognyanova, lecturer at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, chair of the Coordination Council of the CoDE project and chair of the hackathon jury, urged participants to realize that their work in the hackathon is part of a larger fight for truth and freedom of speech, which requires active resistance against organized disinformation networks. “If we allow disinformation to spread unchecked, it will threaten not only our freedom but also our security,” she concluded.
During the event, the applied research area “Intelligent Government” team of the GATE Institute, coordinator of the Bulgarian-Romanian Observatory of Digital Media (BROD), conducted a scientific experiment related to identifying the basic skills of participants to distinguish fake news from credible information. The researchers also conducted training on the identification of misinformation.