The UAB launches the "DIGICRIM" project on disinformation, criminal law, and challenges for democracy in the digital environment

Facultat i UAB

The UAB has launched the “DIGICRIM” project, a pioneering initiative that examines how criminal law can respond to the growing challenge of digital disinformation and its impact on democratic quality. Funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the project brings together a multidisciplinary team to explore effective solutions that respect fundamental rights.

 

28/11/2025

The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities has funded, within the 2024 “Knowledge Generation” call, the DIGICRIM project (PID2024-156696OB-I00), dedicated to studying the possibilities and solutions to the problems posed by criminal law intervention in the face of one of today’s main challenges for democracy: disinformation in the digital environment.

The project is led by Dr. Joan Baucells Lladós, Associate Professor of Criminal Law at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, through the Research Group on Criminal Law and new trends in criminal policy (GReDP). Its aim is to analyse, from a solid and interdisciplinary perspective, which tools criminal law can offer and to what extent they are desirable, proportionate, and respectful of fundamental rights.

The research team is made up of a multidisciplinary and international group: Miriam Cugat (UAB), Francisco Javier Valderrama (PhD candidate), Joan Baucells (UAB), Ariadna Mañé (Verificat), Carlos Padrós (UAB), Jordi Casas (Spanish Prosecutor General’s Office), Mª J. Cuenca (UAB), Frank Zimmermann (University of Freiburg), Santiago Giraldo (UAB), Luigi Foffani (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia – Unimore), Mª J. Pifarré (UAB), Tommaso Guerini (Pegaso University), Antoni Cardona (UAB), Rosa M. Vadalà (University of Verona), Luiz Peres (UAB), Gemma Gómez-Bernal (UAB) and Cristina Fernández (UVic).

The project will contribute to generating rigorous scientific knowledge and offering proposals that help address the phenomenon of disinformation in an effective and democratically sound manner.

More information: https://dretpenal.uab.cat/