ECHO — Empowering Citizens against Hallucinations and Online Manipulation — is an EU-funded initiative tackling one of the most pressing threats to modern democracy: disinformation. By uniting civic empowerment, cutting-edge technology, ethical awareness, and participatory design, ECHO delivers a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder response to the spread of false and manipulative information across digital platforms.

Aligned with the EU’s strategic commitment to democratic resilience, ECHO empowers a broad spectrum of society — citizens, healthcare professionals, educators, journalists, fact-checkers, and local governments — with the tools, skills, and knowledge needed to detect, understand, and counteract disinformation responsibly and inclusively. Through localized pilots, hands-on training programmes, and algorithmic innovation, ECHO reaches youth, people with disabilities, and vulnerable communities, ensuring no one is left behind in the fight for an informed society.

At its core, ECHO champions data transparency, responsible AI use, media literacy, and community-driven detection of fake news and health misinformation. Through inclusive civic interventions and citizen-centric design, it builds lasting capacity across Europe to recognise manipulation, think critically, and engage confidently in public life — strengthening trust, cohesion, and the future of European democracy.