US Demands EU Return Its Disinformation Badge, Threatens to Hold Breath Until It Does
Washington has reportedly pressured European governments to withdraw from a Vilnius disinformation conference after organizers classified the United States as a foreign interference actor, prompting the US to demand its removal from the list and threaten unspecified consequences.
VILNIUS — The United States has formally demanded that the European Union remove it from its list of foreign information manipulation and interference actors, threatening to hold its breath until the designation is rescinded, according to cables sent to American embassies across the continent.
The demand followed the opening of the #Disinfo2026 conference in Vilnius, where organizers had classified Washington as a FIMI actor — a term normally reserved for Russia and China. By the time the first panel convened, the logos of the European External Action Service, Canada's foreign ministry and Lithuania's foreign ministry had vanished from all conference materials, leaving only the French Foreign Ministry and the Vilnius city administration. A conference volunteer was seen scraping a Canadian maple leaf off the welcome banner with a hotel key card.
«We were told the United States would be listed alongside Russia, and we were told this by people holding clipboards,» said one Brussels-based official, speaking on condition of anonymity. «The Americans said they would not leave the building until the word 'threat' was removed. They have not left the building.»
American writer Michael Shellenberger withdrew as a speaker after learning of the designation, and the US State Department reportedly instructed embassies to convey Washington's objections. A senior EU DisinfoLab researcher was seen pacing the conference foyer at 3 a.m., rewriting the agenda by hand while a yoga session continued in the adjacent hall.
By Thursday, the conference program had been amended to describe the United States as a «partner in the shared fight against disinformation,» though the original FIMI classification remained visible in the printed materials, which organizers attempted to collect from attendees one by one.
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