This spring, Google's Jigsaw unit, dedicated to addressing societal threats, is set to launch a campaign across TikTok and YouTube in five EU countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland, ahead of EU elections.

The initiative, building on successful prior efforts in Germany and central Europe, seeks to engage citizens in countries with substantial EU voter populations, leveraging Google's local expertise.

The animated ads, designed to combat misinformation, feature prebunking techniques developed in collaboration with researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol. Unlike traditional fact-checking, which often comes after misinformation spreads, prebunking helps viewers identify manipulative content before encountering it. To encourage engagement, YouTube viewers will be invited to complete a short multiple-choice questionnaire assessing their understanding of misinformation.

The multilingual campaign, translated into all 24 official EU languages, will run for at least a month, with the possibility of extension based on its impact. The results, including survey responses and outreach metrics, are anticipated to be released in the summer of 2024.