“Club of friends of TEPs” (Trusted European Platforms), Newsletter #1: update just before ‘democracy shield’

1. Latest: Democracy Shield to include new initiatives

In recent weeks, a draft paragraph about the Trusted European Platforms proposal for the Democracy Shield communication was provided. (Available upon request). Interest is growing fast (TEPSA September Editorial by Jim Cloos) and intergenerational (Young European Federalists article, one of many examples).

Status in brief: work in progress, beyond “simplification”:

The EU services DG JUST and DG CONNECT, as well as most of the relevant cabinets – including those of Virkkunen, McGrath, and Séjourné – seem supportive. To be confirmed. 

Europe MédiaLab has already presented the initiative to the Cabinets of the President of the European Commission Von der Leyen; EVP for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy, Virkkunen; Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, McGrath, and EVP for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Sejourne, as well as DG CNECT, DG JUST, Parliament Members, journalists, media & advertising stakeholders, experts and think tanks. 

President von der Leyen’s cabinet should now be convinced that this ‘soft law’ encouragement is feasible and necessary in the current transatlantic context. As the Commission prepares “omnibus” measures to “simplify” legislation, MEPs and some governments are likely to expect more. TEPs could be one of the new initiatives showing that Europe is not about deregulation, but standing tall, and sustaining democracy. 

The ideas raised in the EU’s Democracy Shield are more limited than what is being considered at the national level under the headings of information warfare and industrial policy.
The proposed Centre for Combating Disinformation/ hybrid warfare, for example, involving the Member States, seems useful but rather late after 7 years of “observing” disinformation. As for the rest – more resources for fact-checking, media literacy, etc. – these are helpful measures, but will they be enough to safeguard the 2027 (France) and 2029 (EU) elections?

National momentum grows in the capitals, notably Paris and Berlin, which are waking up. In the last week of October, the French President organised a debate on the social media impact on democracy and the elections. The discussion concluded that, dangerously wronged, the social media market needs competition. This implies open and transnational standards from the outset to attract a critical mass of users. 

Franco-German Digital Sovereignty Berlin Summit on Nov 18th.  Numerous good projects are planned for data centres/cloud, satellites, and AI. However, there is a risk that it will focus only on hardware and software, while overlooking the infrastructure of democracy itself: social media platforms. The EVP Virkkunen will represent the EU Commission at the Summit.

Europe MediaLab will be in Berlin for the Summit and for several side events.
For example, Christophe Leclercq will be a panellist at the Eurosky stakeholders conference on Nov 19th (among others: experts, MEPs, etc), to detail the TEP’s proposal and its opportunities.

Private Sector & Stakeholders: ready to seize the opportunities

Since the Democracy Shield and Berlin Summit announcements, stakeholder mobilisation has grown. The media and advertising sectors are interested in TEPs as an alternative to dominant platforms. Other policy and strategy initiatives could converge with TEPs, all motivated by strategic autonomy. Both start-ups and larger players would engage in follow-up work.

Engagement at events broadens the coalition around this agenda. Recently, Future of Democracy (Open Markets Institute & Article 19), and State of Europe 2025 and soon numerous side events to the Berlin Summit and then several 2026 conferences.