The BECID Steering Committee convened on 18 September to review ongoing activities, share updates from work packages, and prepare for the months ahead.
Pre-Election Monitoring
Political activity in Estonia remains calm, though monitoring continues ahead of the local elections. Delfi has launched a new weekly newsletter “Märgatud: valimised” (“Spotted: elections”), highlighting key election-related developments on social media — including activity from Russian bots and targeted campaigns toward Russian-speaking voters.
Ad spending by candidates on Meta and Google is also being tracked until the end of September. Due to Meta no longer providing certain datasets, adjustments will be made in Work Package 6 (WP6), which focuses on data analysis.
Work Package Updates
- WP6: A data scraping system is under development, designed for maximum automation. Once live, anyone with the link will be able to view Telegram scraping results and compare datasets. In addition, WP6 will run a media literacy campaign, while fact-checking activities remain on track.
- WP4 (GLAM & Media Literacy): Tartu University (UT) and BCME are collaborating on mapping media literacy approaches in the GLAM sector. UT students will conduct interviews, and the UT Library will host a pre-election intervention on manipulation tactics — presented through an interactive “fortune wheel”. This exhibition will open on 29 September and remain on display for three weeks before Estonia’s local elections. In Latvia, BCME has applied for co-financing to launch GLAM-sector workshops later this year.
Deliverables & Deadlines
- September: Launch of monthly internal newsletters (partners are asked to submit activity updates by the 21st of each month).
- November: Key deliverables include UT’s Ethics Report (D1.3), Updated Communication and Dissemination Plan (D2.1), and Protocol for Testing AI & Verification Tools (D3.2, Delfi Meedia).
Completed Milestones
- Appointment of Marten Juurik (UT) as ethics mentor.
- Language strategy for fact-checking finalized.
- Administrative and financial coordination frameworks established.
- KPIs for project monitoring set.
Looking Ahead
The next Quarterly Brief will be published at the end of November.