Fake news fears have triggered academics to set up a direct information channel for British expats in Europe.
A think-tank is concerned that expats will face a flood of is information about their Brexit status when the government triggers Article 50 later this month.
To combat fake news, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) wants to give expats reliable updates to stop them deciding to return home without making the right financial decisions.
The problem is no one knows how many British expats live in other European Union countries. The estimate is between 1.2 million and 1.8 million.
The think-tank argues that hundreds of thousands of returning expats will over stress housing, social security and health services that are already at breaking point.
Missing link for UK expats
A team of academics at Cambridge University funded by the ESRC will start building a database of expats and their trusted news and information services within weeks.
The directory will include web sites offering legal, health, financial and property advice, English language news services and social media.
Lead researcher Dr Brendan Burchell of Cambridge University said: “UK citizens abroad need to be empowered to make sound, informed decisions during Brexit negotiations on whether to remain in their adopted homelands or return to the UK.
“There is a missing link – no database of the conduits through which high-quality information can be communicated that targets specific countries or sub-groups of UK migrants. This is what we aim to build over the coming weeks.”
Database to combat gossip
Burchell explains that without a trusted news source, expats could be left with inaccurate speculation and other ‘fake news circulating on social media’.
His colleague on the project, Professor Maura Sheehan, echoed his fears.
“The idea that we could see socially isolated expats back in the UK with health conditions, financial woes and even ending in destitution because of bad decisions based on misinformation should not simply be written off as remoaner hysteria,” she said.
The ESRC is an independent organisation set up by a royal charter that funds academic social and economic projects in the UK. The current program is funding 4,000 researchers with a budget of £192 million.
