In collaboration with social media data analysts at Textgain, researchers at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) studied both platform transparency and the prevalence of disinformation and related narratives in the Dutch‑language online environment.

Our study combines:

• An assessment of platform self‑reports under the Code of Conduct
• A review of political communication and disinformation research
• A large‑scale automated analysis of 72,000 posts and 5 million comments (Jan–Jun 2025)

We find that platforms provide only limited insight into how much disinformation appears on their services and how it relates to all political content. While explicit misinformation and disinformation are not extremely frequent overall, misleading and unverifiable information and borderline content that feeds harmful narratives make up a substantial share of problematic material.

The white paper’s key recommendation is to add false and misleading narratives as a Structural Indicator under the Code. This would push platforms to report more substantively on recurring harmful narratives and better equip media professionals, fact‑checkers and policymakers to respond.

Read the full white paper for our detailed methods, findings and recommendations.

Authors: Teresa Weikmann, Guy De Pauw, Marina Tulin, Michael Hameleers, Claes de Vreese