The European Union’s head of combating foreign interference in communications says allegations that Beijing is meddling in Canada’s elections can be used as an opportunity to improve the public’s understanding of disinformation.

Lutz Guellner, the E.U. foreign ministry’s director of strategic communications, was in Ottawa last week as part of a collaboration on a G7 working group to combat threats to democracy.

According to Guellner, the Europeans are attempting to educate people on how to spot misinformation, as well as regulate social media platforms and collaborate with allies.

He claims that while Canada is a key player in researching disinformation from countries attempting to interfere in democracies, Canadians could be better educated on how to identify fake news.

Guellner claims that since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, there has been a trend of creating fake news articles that appear real, with the goal of eroding people’s trust in mainstream media.

He also claims that Russian embassies are spreading disinformation to new audiences via social media.