Defending democratic values in the digital age

The Commission’s Democracy Package, adopted on 12 November 2025, featured the communications on the European Democracy Shield, as announced in President von der Leyen’s Political Guidelines. 

The European Democracy Shield (EUDS) aims to protect and promote our democracies. It presents a coherent set of measures, focusing on three pillars:

1. Safeguarding integrity in the information space
2. Protecting free and fair elections and media
3. Boosting societal resilience and media literacy

The Democracy Shield establishes a Centre of Democratic Resilience, to support work across all areas, bringing together expertise and capacity from Member States and candidate and potential candidate countries, and EU institutions. 

A Stakeholder Platform for independent experts will support this work, bringing together expertise and capacity across Member States and neighbouring countries and building on the European Digital Media Observatory Hubs, and the new communities such as the European Network of Fact-Checkers and the future common research support framework.

The Commission already has rules in place to help protect the integrity of information online: 

• The AI Act includes obligations to label AI-generated content under certain circumstances, including deep fakes
• The Digital Services Act (DSA) has rules to mitigate large-scale risks to society and democracy on online platforms, in full respect of users’ freedom of expression
• The DSA also includes rules for transparency of algorithms, empowering users to control what they see, and giving researchers access to data to study how online platforms spread information, among other things
• The Regulation on political advertising provides common EU standards that make it easier for citizens to recognise political ads, know if they are targeted by such ads, and distinguish them from other types of content.

The Commission is taking several actions to boost the integrity of our information space in digital age. These include:

• Preparing a DSA incidents and crisis protocol to ensure swift reactions to large-scale and even transnational threats to information integrity
• Building on measures such as the Code of Conduct on Disinformation to demonetise disinformation, among other things
• Extending the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) mandate to develop new, independent monitoring and analytical capabilities, in particular around elections or crises
• Asking the European Board for Media Services to work with us to develop common criteria to guide national media regulators when they act to protect the EU information space from rogue non-EU media services 

The European Network of Fact-Checkers (call under evaluation) will also contribute to these efforts. It will help independent fact-checkers in all 27 EU Member States to enhance their capacity to detect, analyse and counter information manipulation, including in crisis situations. The Network will also include a protection scheme for fact-checkers and set up an EU fact-checking repository. 

The Commission will also create a common research support framework providing access to data and advanced technology for researchers, academia and civil society organisations to monitor and detect foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) and disinformation campaigns.

Elections

The election infrastructure must be protected against cyber attacks. The Network and Information Systems Directive (NIS2) and the Cyber Resilience Act already introduce ways to strengthen the EU’s cybersecurity not just in elections, but more widely. And, the Cybersecurity Reserve established by the Cyber Solidarity Act, is available upon request to Member States and EU partners in case of significant or large-scale cybersecurity internets.

Additionally, the Commission adopted guidelines on the mitigation of systemic risks for electoral processes under the Digital Services Act to support compliance with its obligations to protect civic discourse and electoral processes. Together with national Digital Services Coordinators, the Commission will update the DSA elections toolkit to cover reflect experiences in recent elections. 

Furthermore, the Code of Conduct on Disinformation will continue to play a key role in countering election-related threats, in particular through its Rapid Response System.

Media 

News media is crucial for a healthy democratic debate and free and fair elections. However, the media sector is facing economic pressure, making it harder to sustain independent news media and high-quality reporting. Some places in the EU are even becoming ‘news deserts’ as local outlets are driven out of the market, leading to a decline in the plurality and quality of information. This can open up the way for disinformation, and contribute to a loss of engagement in democracy.

AgoraEU, the EU funding programme for 2028-2034, will include support to free and independent media, including the protection of journalists and media resilience, via the MEDIA+ strand. Until then, the European Democracy Shield and the Media Resilience Programme represent an opportunity to outline the main actions supporting news media, including support for independent media and journalists, providing an EU perspective on current affairs, bolstering media viability and innovation. Meanwhile, the Commission will ramp up support to local media in the Creative Europe programme and introduce a new action under Horizon Europe to further support the digital transformation of the media industry.

Regarding the the resilience of media, the Commission will continue to support Member States in the application of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA). Rules under EMFA not only help to protect a free and pluralistic media, but also require Member States to put in place adequate, sustainable and predictable financial resources for public service media providers. And, the Digital Services Act requires Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines (VLOPs) – those with over 45 million active users in the EU per month – to identify and mitigate risks relating to freedom and pluralism of the media.

Alongside the DSA, the Digital Markets Act helps to promote an independent and diverse media landscape, and tackle challenges such as the impact AI-powered services on digital markets for media. 

Furthermore, as part of the evaluation of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), and the review of the Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market, the Commission will identify ways to further support the economic viability and diversity of the sector.

Finally, when it comes to protecting our media and journalists, the Commission will update its Recommendation on the safety of journalists to support stronger protections for journalists against undue pressure, threats and attacks.

Media and digital literacy is linked to societal resilience and citizens’ engagement. The Commission is fostering education in this area, and supporting opportunities for citizens to participate in democratic life.

In particular, the Commission intends to strengthen the Media Literacy Expert Group to: 

• Expand its mandate to cover all aspects of societal resilience, including preparedness
• Offer new cooperation tools to Member States (e.g. facilitating the development of joint actions)
• Involve the group more frequently in advisory capacity in the design of EU media literacy actions. 

This revamped Expert Group should link with and benefit from the European Centre for Democratic Resilience, drawing from its situational awareness insights. 

At the same time, the Commission will include actions on media literacy in the Media Resilience Programme, targeting all ages, across both rural and urban areas. Efforts to boost media literacy should also build on the media literacy community of EDMO, further growing the repository of best practices and use cases based on the EDMO Guidelines for Effective Media Literacy Initiatives.  

Investing in democracy

The actions in the democracy shield will be supported through a range of EU funding programmes, including, on the digital side: 

• Creative Europe to support media, journalism and digital and media literacy
• Digital Europe Programme to support collaborations to counter disinformation such as through the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) and the European Network of Fact-Checkers
• Horizon Europe to support research, innovation and experimentation to strengthen democracy and governance

As part of the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028-2034, the Commission has proposed a number of programmes that will contribute to the democracy shield, including AgoraEU, which aims to promote shared values, including democracy and media freedom.