Media and digital resilience as safeguards of democracy

Draft agenda

Webstream JDE62

Moderator Assya Kavrakova – Executive Director of European Citizen Action Service (ECAS)

14:00 | Opening by ECAS – Welcome & Introduction to the session

14:10 First Slido (Ice Breaker)

14:20 | Social media and AI algorithms: ensuring the right to accurate information and the visibility of high-quality content across Europe

• Andris Gobiņš, EESC Member 

14:30 | The Information Battlefield of Democracy: Media, Citizens, and the Fight for Trust

• Petko Georgiev, ProInfo

14:45 | Building a holistic ecosystem of resilience between home and school

• Arja Krauchenberg, European Parents’ Association

15:00 | Startin'Blox, digital platform to support participatory democracy and civil society’s capacity

• Sylvain Le bon 

15:15 | Inclusive digital transformation in the EU, Citizens’ Perspectives and recommendations from Six EU Countries

• Nicolò Triacca, ECAS

15:30 | Q&A

15.45 | Second Slido on Recommendations + Final remarks

16:00 | END 

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.