Alerts about AI-generated content, independent fact-checking and dedicated support for smaller newsrooms. The project Valkollen 2026 (“The Election Check”) aims to equip Swedish journalists ahead of the upcoming general election. The initiative is led by Fojo Media Institute at Linnaeus University and made possible by a donation of four million Swedish kronor.
“Ahead of the 2026 election, journalists will face an information landscape where the pace is relentless, the flows overwhelming and attempts at manipulative influence more sophisticated than ever. Valkollen 2026 gives Swedish journalists the tools to counter attempts to manipulate public opinion,” says Andreas Önnerfors, researcher at Fojo Media Institute and project manager for Valkollen 2026, a project under the umbrella of the Fojo Verify section of the Institute.
Valkollen 2026 aims to strengthen media’s resilience against information influence by offering newsrooms fact-checking and verification support, trend reports on disinformation and training for journalists. This includes identifying AI-generated or manipulated content and scrutinising viral claims circulating ahead of the election. Particular attention will be paid to smaller newsrooms, where capacity for independent fact-checking is limited.
The project builds on the fact-checking methods and newsroom collaboration that Fojo Media Institute has developed since 2018, and is funded through a donation of four million Swedish kronor made possible by Nina von Koch.
Valkollen launches as a one-year project, but the ambition is to develop it into a permanent knowledge centre, bringing together expertise from academia, media, civil society and the technology sector to counter information influence over the long term.
“By strengthening democratic resilience, offering independent analysis and contributing to European cooperation, we can provide a lasting and stable force to protect democratic discourse. Democracy, and with it the position of a free press, is under threat globally and the challenges of information influence will not end with the Swedish election,” says Andreas Önnerfors.
About Fojo
Fojo Media Institute works in continuing professional development, knowledge building and capacity development within journalism. In 2025, more than 450 journalists took part in Fojo’s training programmes in Sweden. Its work spans commissioned training, international projects and method development in collaboration with newsrooms, researchers and public actors. Internationally, Fojo focuses on capacity building primarily in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Fojo works on questions relating to the quality, independence and resilience of journalism in a rapidly changing and complex information landscape.
For more information, please contact Fojo’s communications officer.