On February 21, a roundtable will be held in New Delhi to talk about the EU and India’s cooperation in the security and policy elements of online disinformation and information manipulation.

On Wednesday (February 21), more than thirty-five specialists from the EU and India will come together in New Delhi.

According to a release from the European External Action Service, they will also “unpack the security and policy aspects of online disinformation and information manipulation while identifying possible areas of EU-India collaboration.”

The roundtable will happen in 2024 alongside the Raisina Dialogue.

The fourth roundtable co-organized by the Indian Observer Research and the EU-funded Enhancing Security Cooperation In and With Asia (ESIWA) project is titled “Combating disinformation online: EU and Indian perspectives” and is part of the EU-India track 1.5 event.

“Experts will deliberate foreign policy responses to disinformation in both regions, highlight developments in the EU’s and India’s work to disrupt malicious actors, and reflect on the role of civil society in addressing online disinformation and building resilience,” said the release.

India and Europe coexist in cyberspace, despite Europe’s apparent geographical distance from Asia, according to Seppo Nurmi, Deputy Head of the European Union Delegation to India.

“Europe and Asia may appear remote from one another in the real world, but in cyberspace, we coexist occasionally in a hazardous, complicated cyberneighborhood where our society rely on dependable, durable digital services and where anyone can fall prey to malevolent cyberattacks. We must fight

Meanwhile, the European External Action Service’s Mindaugas Lasas, Head of Sector – Hybrid Threats, declared, “Online disinformation and information manipulation is a growing political and security challenge.” With the potential to undermine two of the biggest democracies in the world, this ESIWA-ORF discussion is a great opportunity to strengthen EU-India cooperation in the field of cyber security.”

Notably, the first three meetings took place in New Delhi on the fringes of the CyFy and Raisina talks in April 2022, October 2022, and March 2023.

According to the release, the conference results also advanced the formal EU-India Cybersecurity Dialogues by fostering relationships between two international security players and advancing the conversation on changing security concerns.