On 28 October, the House of European History welcomed members of East StratCom Task Force from the European External Action Service, along with their counterparts in the European Parliament Spokesperson Service, for a presentation of the museum’s temporary exhibition "Fake For Real – A History of forgery and falsification". Both teams are currently tackling the spread and impact of disinformation at the Pan-European level — covering, for example, conspiracy theories and anti-democratic propaganda — in order to strengthen fact-based communication and the overall media environment and civil society.
The visit was led by the exhibition’s curators Simina Badica and Joanna Urbanek, and demonstrated Europe’s long and complex history of forgeries, fakes and falsehoods. The section “The Era of Post-Truth?” was of key interest, as it had been created with input from the Spokesperson’s Service, and provided interactive games for citizens to learn fact-checking methods, as well as play with an innovative ‘filter bubble’ that investigates how social media works.
The exhibition has been extended in Brussels until 30 January 2022, with group reservations allowed again, and no bookings required for individual visitors. A series of virtual tours has also been created for online audiences.