The EU is proposing a new agency called the ‘European Centre for Democratic Resilience’ to counter foreign disinformation attacks from Russia, according to a working draft document of the European Democracy Shield seen by Euractiv.
The Democracy Shield initiative, which the Commission is due to present on 12 November, aims to address hybrid disinformation attacks from foreign actors such as Russia, with a particular focus on offering support during elections.
The new centre is being pitched as a “dedicated hub” to foster cooperate between the EU itself and countries to fend off attacks that use multiple techniques and online channels to amp up impact.
According to the draft, the goal for the centre is to anticipate and fight disinformation over time. The Commission document describes Russia as “escalating hybrid attacks” and “waging a battle of influence against Europe”.
While the working draft is scant on details regarding budget or when the EU would establish such a centre, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen already pitched the idea during her annual state of the union speech in September.
A hub for fighting disinformation has also been a long-standing ask from EU lawmakers, including – recently – the Parliament’s special committee on the Democracy Shield.
Similar centres already exist in EU countries, such as France’s VIGNIUM – a technical agency that monitors foreign interference – or Sweden’s Psychological Defence Agency. It’s unclear how the new EU centre would cooperate with existing bodies.
The EU already has legislation that targets online election disinformation, including the Digital Services Act (DSA) and AI Act. But – so far – the Commission has not concluded any DSA disinformation probes it’s opened on social media platforms, including investigations of Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, TikTok, and X.
The draft of the Democracy Shield states that the EU’s executive would prioritise such investigations on large platforms.
The document also specifies that the Commission will prepare “a DSA incident and crisis protocol” to “prevent and address major [online] incidents and interference”. Though DSA regulators and large social media companies do already meet ahead of national elections, under established protocols, to discuss disinformation risks.
The draft plan pitches several other initiatives under the Democracy Shield banner – including support for developing better tools to detect deepfakes; a push to prioritise the media sector in enforcing the EU’s big tech rulebook, the Digital Markets Act; and boosting fact-checking by setting up an independent European Network of Fact-Checkers.
(nl)
