EditWhy did the EU’s Democracy Shield disappoint and what can be done about it?
Maybe it’s time for the Council and the Parliament to insist on a more ambitious strategy, not afraid of Washington
Without European social media , trusted platforms, and resilient ecosystems, Europe remains dependent, outsourcing the tools of its own democracy, writes Christophe Leclercq.
Christophe Leclercq is the founder of Euractiv, he now has left this company and leads MédiaLab (ex-Fondation EurActiv): Stars4media & Maison du MédiaLab (hosting Eastern Europe journalists).
The Democracy shield has been published, and – as the press reports – it disappoints in terms of short term actions. In addition to funding already planned and asserting the EU’s regulatory powers, the main proposals are support to independent media, and a ‘Centre for democratic resilience’. See more below on body proliferation and on limited impact so far. But first: why focus again on encouraging nice behaviour, and not on Europe’s social media infrastructure? Is it really too late? No. In fact, there is an encouraging paragraph on social media infrastructure, to be fleshed out.
Brussels debates regulation and spins up new structures, but disinformation continues to spread on social media platforms – all foreign owned. Sovereignty is claimed, but let’s not confuse regulation and actual autonomy.
i) sovereignty as regulatory power (OK on paper?) The ability to set and enforce laws, including funding relevant bodies. Here, the EU did well, until Trump challenged it and internal forces pushed for ‘’competitiveness’, meaning for them ‘simplification’; deregulation. Enforcement remains key.
ii) sovereignty as strategic autonomy (somewhat missing!) the capacity to act without being constrained by tech dependencies. Apart from the news media sector, which will get more support, the EU is a laggard. Support for the media will increase in a major way, which is to be lauded. However,news media now represents a minority of what citizens watch, plus fact checking and media literacy have limited and slow impact.
Other aspects of digital sovereignty are, rightly, tackled by massive plans for hardware and software. EU, governments and private sector in data centres (read sovereign cloud), satellites and AI. But what about social media platforms? Is Europe condemned to begging the US platforms to behave?
Turf battles and legislation occupy EU leaders’ time…
The EU machinery is slow but good at producing regulation. And so now it reviews what it did in the last EU mandate. Others report on this, I won’t be any longer here. My reco: don’t review but enforce, and move on to actual economics and infrastructure.
In addition, many bodies have emerged: temporary ones like the High-Level Expert Group on disinformation (disclosure, I was part of it), and then groups to create a code of practice, review it etc .. EU funded semi academic ones like EDMO (disclosure again: on the Advisory Council) . Independent ones, like multiple academic centers, factchecking groups and advocacy NGOs (too many to list without upsetting them). NATO’s initiatives (hindered since it stopped its public diplomacy dpt in 2025…) plus of course many national centers, reporting either to foreign affairs or defense or both.. . and the grandfather of all of them: StratCom East, part of EEAS – which is supposed to bring together EU and national diplomats. Now, the Democracy Shield adds the Centre for Democracy Resilience. Sounds good, although very late, 7 years after fighting fake news started. On top of all the other bodies… And with optional, unclear membership, location, leadership and governance: good luck! . To crown all this, President von der Leyen’s wishes a new intelligence unit under the Commission’s Secretariat‑General, rather than the EEAS. This will create tension with EEAS reporting to VP Kallas and with member states….
Next steps? Also welcome European social media platforms!
Democracy Shield promises legal frameworks and oversight, yet offers little in terms of strategic autonomy. Legal sovereignty is necessary, but insufficient. Without European social media, trusted platforms, and resilient ecosystems, Europe remains dependent in practice, outsourcing the tools of its own democracy.
Here is a direct extract from the Democracy Shield, on EU’s opening to new platforms to be fleshed out, on three points:
The Commission:
“has committed, as part of its support to the uptake of AI in the cultural and creative sectors, to help the development of pan-European platforms to make available realtime news and information from professional media outlets to wider audiences across the EU, in multiple languages.”
“will also step up its support to innovative media projects providing new formats and content to audiences across the Union and beyond”
“will explore future pathways for the EU’s tech environment, with an initial focus on future social networking/social media platforms, supporting EU digital sovereignty.”
That is encouraging, if soft law facilitates defining TRUSTED social media platforms, giving them an edge in cooperation with media, with advertisers and with financiers.
Maybe it’s time for the Council and the Parliament to insist on a more ambitious strategy, not afraid of Washington. And for a few countries to act , And chiefly time to encourage the private sector to seize market opportunities (tech, media, advertising, VC), by welcoming Trusted European Platforms. That may progress next week, as France and Germany called for the Summit on Digital Sovereignty in Berlin. Further events may start mapping the upcoming European social media infrastructure. Like media conferences, like Stars4Media Day on 13 January, like ESDOM at the end of January (8000 coders in Brussels! Including a special day on Trusted Platforms)…
This text was adpted from a post by Christophe Leclercq on LinkedIn.
Caption: On 12 November 2025, Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, and Michael McGrath, European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice the Rule of Law, and Consumer Protection, give a press conference on the European Democracy Shield and the EU Strategy for Civil Society, following the weekly meeting of the von der Leyen Commission in Brussels, Belgium. [Europe by Satellite]
Updated: November 13, 2025 - 13:06
