At a time when falsehoods spread faster than facts and when hostile actors can weaponize a single viral post to destabilize an entire society, defending the truth has become one of Europe’s most urgent tasks. That is why the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) has welcomed the launch, on September 29th, of the pilot phase of the Stakeholder Platform, an initiative led by the European Centre for Democratic Resilience. This platform is not just another bureaucratic milestone in Brussels, nor a distant policy experiment. It is, at its heart, a recognition that democracies need watchtowers, shared spaces where governments, civil society, researchers, and media professionals can come together to understand the threats that are reshaping our information environment. For EDMO, contributing to this initiative is both a responsibility and a natural extension of its own mission to support independent fact-checking, media literacy, and research into disinformation across the European Union. The initiative arrives at a time when foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) has grown more sophisticated, more automated, and more dangerous. Elections, public health, climate action, migration, and the very idea of open debate are being targeted by malicious campaigns that exploit our openness. The Stakeholder Platform should not be seen simply as a monitoring body, but as a shared immune system for democratic societies. It is a place where warning signs can be recognized early, where knowledge can be pooled, and where responses are prepared in advance rather than improvised in crisis. EDMO’s involvement signals that the strength of this platform will lie not only in institutional coordination, but in the rich networks of independent experts who have spent years studying how lies spread and how to counter them. In other words, this pilot phase is a first attempt to turn concern into coordinated resilience, and EDMO is honored to be part of it.
The core purpose of the Stakeholder Platform is to raise situational awareness and foster preparedness against foreign information manipulation and interference, as well as disinformation campaigns, thereby supporting the goals of the European Union Democracy Shield. That phrase, “situational awareness,” might sound technical, but it describes something very human: the simple need to see what is happening before it is too late. It means connecting the dots between a strange social media wave, a hacked website, a fake video, and a coordinated narrative designed to divide us. The platform is envisioned as a bridge between national operational capacities and EU-level coordination, ensuring that one country’s vigilance becomes a continent-wide advantage. Too often, in the past, disinformation threats were dealt with in silos. A fact-checker in one country might notice a suspicious narrative, but without a system to share that observation quickly, the same lie could spread in dozens of languages before anyone could respond. The Stakeholder Platform is designed to break those silos. By linking local and national expertise with European coordination, it strengthens the ability to anticipate, detect, and respond to emerging threats. It also supports rapid response and escalation mechanisms, so that when a crisis hits, the right people already know whom to call, what data to look at, and what tools can be deployed. In that sense, the platform becomes something like a civil defense network for the digital age. It does not replace journalism, or fact-checking, or independent research. Instead, it allows those who practice them to act more effectively together. It is an infrastructure of trust, built to protect the space in which democracy lives and breathes. For citizens, this should ultimately mean a safer information environment, more confidence in the electoral process, and a stronger sense that public debate is still a place where evidence matters, not just emotion and manipulation.
The meaningful involvement of civil society lies at the heart of this project, and EDMO understands that this is both the platform’s greatest promise and its most delicate challenge. Fact-checkers, researchers, media organizations, and media literacy practitioners are not simply useful resources to be consulted when convenient. They are the conscience of the public sphere, and their full participation is essential. But their independence and editorial autonomy must be respected without compromise. This is not an abstract concern. It is the very condition that allows citizens to believe what fact-checkers say, to trust journalists, and to accept research findings, especially in times of polarization and uncertainty. No government, no matter how well-intentioned, should own the truth. An anti-disinformation initiative that is perceived as an instrument of state control would quickly lose all credibility, and worse, it would play directly into the hands of those who claim that the EU is trying to silence dissenting voices. Therefore, the Stakeholder Platform must be careful to build cooperation without subordination, and support without capture. Civil society organizations need resources, access, and opportunities to collaborate, but they also need space to disagree, to publish inconvenient findings, and to criticize institutions when necessary. Their editorial autonomy is the oxygen of public trust. If the platform is to succeed, it must be structured in a way that protects those who are willing to speak truth to power, even when the platform itself is involved. EDMO has long championed this principle through its work with independent national and regional hubs, and it will continue to do so as the pilot phase unfolds. The message is clear: in the fight against disinformation, civil society is not a stakeholder among many; it is the anchor that keeps the entire response democratic, honest, and accountable to the public.
EDMO stands ready to bring its field expertise and its European network to this effort, helping to turn shared knowledge into practical resilience at local and national level. As Paolo Cesarini, Chair of the EDMO Executive Board, has said, “We are prepared to pilot-test the Platform, drawing on the capabilities of its national and regional hubs to monitor and analyse the information space and to disseminate knowledge through targeted resilience-building activities.” This commitment is not theoretical. Across Europe, EDMO’s network of independent hubs has already been doing the slow, difficult, unglamorous work of tracking disinformation narratives, debunking false claims, analyzing influence operations, and teaching citizens how to navigate a contaminated information environment. These hubs are composed of real people, researchers who read obscure conspiracy forums, journalists who verify images and videos, media educators who train elderly citizens to spot scams, and data scientists who map the spread of harmful hashtags. Their knowledge is grounded in local languages, local cultures, and local concerns, which makes it invaluable for European-level preparedness. At the same time, they benefit from being connected to a broader network, sharing best practices, methods, and warnings across borders. The Stakeholder Platform, if designed well, can amplify this work without diluting its independence. It can offer a channel through which the knowledge generated at the community level can inform national and European strategies, while ensuring that the people who produce that knowledge remain free and uncommitted to any political agenda. As Cesarini added, “Our contribution will be guided by the principles of independence, integrity, transparency, neutrality, pluralism, inclusion and scientific rigour that underpin the whole EDMO Network.” These are not just buzzwords. They are the standards that make the difference between an initiative that protects democracy and one that merely mimics it. Without integrity, a network is just a supply chain. Without neutrality, a platform is just a megaphone. Without transparency and inclusion, it becomes another closed circle. EDMO’s commitment, therefore, is to remain a trusted partner, not a cheerleader, and to use its expertise to strengthen the platform from within while holding it to the highest democratic standards.
The pilot phase is a necessary and important step, but it is only the beginning of a longer journey. Real resilience against foreign information manipulation cannot be built in a matter of months, and it cannot be sustained with short-term enthusiasm alone. That is why the upcoming EU Multiannual Financial Framework must provide the resources necessary to ensure that Europe’s growing capacity to build democratic resilience can be sustained over the long term. In practical terms, this means stable funding for independent fact-checking, for research into disinformation, for media literacy programs, and for the very infrastructure that allows national actors to cooperate with EU institutions and with one another. It also means investing in human beings, in the people who will continue to monitor the information space, run the hubs, train the trainers, and remain vigilant year after year. The threat is not going to disappear. Over the past years, we have seen information manipulation erupt around conflicts, health crises, and elections. Hostile actors learn from their mistakes and adapt to new defenses. A platform that is well supported can evolve with the threat, improving its methods, expanding its coverage, and deepening its understanding. But a platform that is tested and then left to survive on goodwill and temporary grants would soon become an empty shell, a symbol of good intentions without the power to act. Sustainable support is not a luxury. It is the difference between real resilience and a permanent state of being surprised. The EU has shown ambition, with initiatives such as the Democracy Shield, suggesting a genuine desire to protect the democratic foundations of the Union. That ambition must now be matched with resources. Citizens cannot be expected to defend themselves against sophisticated foreign interference with no more than good instincts. They need institutions, partnerships, and tools that are reliable and lasting. As the pilot phase begins, the question is not whether the vision is right, but whether Europe will have the courage to invest in it fully, not only in this budget cycle, but for the long run.
Ultimately, this is about more than platforms, pilots, or policy frameworks. It is about the kind of society we want to live in and the kind of information environment we want our children to inherit. Democracy has always been fragile, but it has never before had to compete with algorithms engineered for outrage and not for truth. Foreign information manipulation is not simply a security problem; it is an attack on the very idea of public reason, on our ability to listen to one another and make choices together. In confronting this threat, the Stakeholder Platform offers a way forward, not by silencing difficult voices, but by amplifying verifiable facts; not by building walls, but by building shared literacy; not by replacing journalism, but by protecting the conditions that allow journalism to flourish. EDMO’s participation in the pilot phase is an offer of cooperation and a promise of vigilance. It is a hands-on contribution to an effort that will need many hands, a shared commitment that will need many champions. If the platform succeeds in connecting national capacities with European coordination, in giving civil society a genuine voice, and in staying true to the principles of independence and rigor, it could become a model for democratic resilience around the world. But success will require patience, humility, and sustained energy. It requires everyone, from high-level officials to ordinary citizens, to understand that democratic resilience is not a one-time project, but a continuous practice. It requires treating every news alert as a reminder that the information space is contested, and that our freedom to think for ourselves is always at risk. As the pilot phase begins, EDMO invites others to join in this effort, not with easy answers, but with the confidence that curiosity, honesty, and cooperation are still stronger than deception. For in the long struggle against manipulation, the most powerful defense is a society that knows how to doubt, how to verify, and how to come together, not in fear, but in shared respect for the truth.