Media and digital resilience as safeguards of democracy

At a time when democracy faces mounting global pressures and liberal regimes are in retreat, Europe’s true strength lies in the resilience of its society. Building societal resilience – rooted in public trust, access to reliable information and genuine citizen engagement – is the EU’s most vital defence against the forces of autocratisation. Only empowered and resilient citizens can safeguard the EU’s democratic future.

The media are essential for ensuring the functioning of European democracies and public access to reliable information. However, the traditional media have been irrevocably affected by multiple challenges, from the severe market and audience loss caused by loosely regulated social media to political pressures, big platform bias and invasive AI tools gradually replacing traditional access to original information. In addition, the Russian aggression against Ukraine has been accompanied by massive information warfare that attacks every aspect of the European model, striving to erode public trust in institutions and increase political and social polarisation. It also weakens democratic processes by hindering people’s ability to make well-informed choices. 

Against this background, the workshop will explore how to strengthen media and digital resilience, focusing on the role of independent media and civil society and exploring topics such as information resilience, digital skills, critical civic awareness and a citizen-centric approach to democratic resilience.