Europe must move from defensive regulation to entrepreneurial action. Building Trusted European Platforms (TEPs) is the way, tackling first toxic networks like X/Twitter.
Given geopolitics, most stakeholders now aspire to sovereign solutions. Beyond usual EU processes, here is a sketch for business credibility and impact. Success will come from bridging the cultures and incentives of leaders: tech, media, advertising, venture capital, and policy.
Christophe Leclercq builds on talks within each category, facilitated by his track record: media entrepreneur, , former EU competition official, McKinsey consultant, and expert in corporate governance. And now leading the think-do-tank Europe MédiaLab.
FRAME: smart policy to enable European platforms
The ‘democracy shield’ promised by Pt von der Leyen, to be sound and open, needs:
- Strong enforcement of EU laws (notably DSA, DMA, EMFA, AI Act).
- Differentiate implementation by size, and hold “sandbox” talks to avoid EU rules unintentionally harming media SMEs—e.g. on political ads in local elections.
- Accompanying measures: money for fact-checking, media literacy, journalists’ protection, rule of law etc. All are necessary, but not sufficient
- Plus two enabling measures: trust indicators and profile portability.
Disinformation will continue via US (and Chinese) platforms. They become reluctant to follow rules, backed by a Trump administration using blackmail on trade and defense. The ‘fine or shame’ approach will not suffice: we also need ‘carrots’ for the best content providers and hosts.
- ‘Trust Indicators’: GAFA pledged to reflect them in algorithms but did not do it. They would increase the reach and revenues of quality content, while reducing virality of disinformation. A variety of Trust Indicator Providers (TIPs), certified like independent rating agencies for bonds, would assess sources and ‘trust signals’ to platforms
- User rights to include profile portability (easily keeping followers when switching platforms, like phone number portability) and interoperability (platforms feeding each other). This augments citizen control and competition – especially for new entrants…
These measures do not censor. Rather, they just limit the reach of disinformation. They encourage fair competition. Journalism can finally compete fairly with clickbait.
DEFINE: soft law for “Trusted European Platforms”?
New legislative initiatives would face massive counter lobbying from direct and indirect US sources, and long inter-institutional processes. So, we need to set standards in a fast way that is not at first legally binding. Just like GAFAs advocated for self-regulation, then co-regulation..
Digital companies in line with principles above could be defined as ‘Trusted Platforms’. In addition, Trusted European Platform (TEPs) should be anchored in the EU, regarding corporate law, majority ownership, governance, technology, and data handling: earning them extra trust.
TEPS should be assessed by independent evaluators, regularly and firmly, after an open call.
COMPETE: move past Twitter, build better TEPs
X/Twitter’s reputation and readership in Europe is collapsing due to Elon Musk’s views, plus cuts to moderation and legal compliance. Surprisingly, despite declining credibility, ‘X’ remains central for journalists and politicians in most countries. Change is overdue for all toxic platforms. let’s start with this microblogging alternative:
- Four-layered content on current affairs: 1) news media, 2) expert views, 3) citizenviews and emotions, 4) contextual (non-intrusive) ads
- AI-supported, for debates and summaries across languages, formats, and ages
- Partnering with civil society and education
- Inclusive and transparent Advisory: stakeholders supporting ethics and trust
- Other core technology is available, partly open source: used by Mastodon, Bluesky etc.
Building on this, European competitors could also be found for TikTok, Instagram, Facebook etc., as well as for messaging and search platforms. For its part, EU competition policy is now forward-looking, not just handling past (mis)behaviours.
FUND & PROMOTE: market ads, media deals & capital
The key is to engage many users, starting with the newscycle. Without Silicon Valley billions, EU ventures won’t outspend competitors. Cooperation and trust will attract users and money.
1. Win-Win exchange with news media and retail media
- News media so far ‘shoot their own foot’, promoting US ‘gatekeepers’ in exchange for shrinking ‘click’ visibility. TEPs would cross-promote better with them:
- Retail media is the (ethical) monetisation of shoppers’ aggregated data. It is growing fast, and still mostly sovereign. Facing US platforms like Amazon, European retailers are natural allies of news media, and of TEPs
- Visibility and content in return for ‘media equity’: company shares in TEPs
- Interoperability will also help toward a critical mass: ecosystem of trust-based platforms.
2. Trust-based advertising revenue
- Online advertising is dominated by 6 ‘gatekeepers’. It is huge and growing: attracting players of varied ethics. Trust-based ads could help sustain prices and bring volume..
- Responsible advertisers could redirect budgets to TEPs. GARM (Global Alliance for Responsible Media) demonetised harmful content, but was blocked last year in the US…
- No revenue distribution to fake news producers under sanctions or judgement.
3. Capital: founders, VC and sovereign funds
- First, visionary individuals can seed ventures. For example: top experts leaving GAFAs for ethics, media entrepreneurs shaken by AI disintermediation.
- Then, Venture Capital can fund several rounds
- Then, sovereign funds could scale TEPs (e.g. InvestEU) —but not control or politicise.
4. Limited Public Support: ecosystem framework and R&D
- operating costs should not be subsidised: please no more ‘white elephants’…
- EU and governments could focus some R&D budgets (new MFF) on TEPs-related tech
- Separately, support to news media is essential—TEPs will rely i.a. on quality content.
LAUNCH: platforming the ‘democracy shield’
Europe doesn’t need just a “Twitter clone.” Or just a ‘democracy shield’. Or just supporting the news media. It needs several, sustainable, Trusted European Platforms.
Proposed steps for speed and impact:
- A cross-sector Committee to define TEP criteria and review process
- political support via a simple EU Commission ‘Communication’ and Parliament ‘Opinion’: “Democracy infrastructure: industrial strategy for the information ecosystem”
- Events to engage motivated entrepreneurs, investors, media, and policymakers
- bootcamps toward TEPs: business plan, proofs of concepts, ventures, launches.
Europe built ecosystems in aviation, films, telecoms, energy, clean tech. It can do so again for the digital public sphere. Spotify and Mistral are encouraging: we need more of these.