this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2025

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202

The EU is requesting feedback on how to protect democracy and combat misinformation (ec.europa.eu)

submitted 1 day ago by atro_city@fedia.io to c/europe@feddit.org

48 comments fedilink hide all child comments

use your voice

If you are concerned about people being influenced by Russia, the US, and China, be it via Facebook, Reddit, TikTok, local ads, or whatever else, if you are concerned about that friend who suddenly started spouting anti-EU rhetoric from Youtube, if you're unhappy with how the EU and member states have handled it so far, this is for you.

~~EU citizens~~ anybody can respond and it would be in our interest to do so too.

It will take 10 minutes if you're quick, longer if you want to leave comments on each point. There are 4 points with up to 4 sub points, each comment can be 3500 characters long.

You can respond in any of the 24 European languages, so if English is not your preferred language, use your mother tongue.
If you are part of a community in your EU mother tongue, share a link to this in your mother tongue.

Here are the supported languages:

bg български
cs čeština
da dansk
de Deutsch
el Ελληνικά
en English
es español
et eesti
fi suomi
fr français
ga Gaeilge
hr hrvatski
hu Magyar
it Italiano
lt lietuvių kalba
lv latviešu valoda
mt Malti
nl Nederlands
pl polski
pt Português
ro română
sk slovenčina
sl slovenščina
sv svenska

all 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] gusgalarnyk@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Taxing the rich out of existence is the number one way of protecting democracy AND combatting misinformation AND improving your standard of living.

It's the most important thing everyone should be pushing all of their political representatives to do. Tax wealth, remove the ultra wealthy.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Thanks, I agree. It would be great if you made that comment official by logging into the website :) Let your opinion be heard by the commission @EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu

[–] gusgalarnyk@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

I'm on it boss 🫡 the moment I'm home.

[–] towelie@lemm.ee 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Hey can someone put in a good word for Canada on a Canadian's behalf? Cheers

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 2 points 2 hours ago

I just noticed that it's not just for EU citizens! Non-EU citizens can also fill in the questionnaire a comment!

[–] Kissaki@feddit.org 2 points 3 hours ago

What the heck is with this blurry graph rendering?

[–] riodoro1@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

„In order to contribute you'll need to register or login using your existing social media account.”

Well that’s exactly what I wanted to talk about.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 1 points 3 hours ago

Where are you getting that from? This is what I'm seeing:

[–] Kissaki@feddit.org 1 points 3 hours ago

I filled it out. Did have some additional comments I added. In the conclusion I raised two other related points not referenced in the questionaire.

I think the most efficient (considering effectiveness, viability, and implementation effort) approaches would be

Require transparency of curation and promotion algorithms of big platforms
Teach literacy, critical thinking, and risk awareness in schools from a young age
Hold politicians accountable for claims and deliberate lies
Reduce social inequality

[–] Kissaki@feddit.org 1 points 3 hours ago

What a shit cookie banner…

The list of cookies is huge, in a table that doesn't even fit the page. What the heck would "all" be? Guess I have to choose "essential only".

[–] Kissaki@feddit.org 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

The page layout is soo confusing.

The PDF and "go to consultation" are the primary elements, but that was not obvious to me at all.

Why is "Give Feedback" above all of those? :-/

/edit: Looks like when you reach the questionnaire the intro means you don't even need to read the pdf beforehand.

[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

To have true democracy, we need bans on coorporate lobbying and coorperate financing of campaigns. Until then, nearly every major party will be bought up by corporate interests.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 1 points 7 hours ago

Do leave that as an official comment! It's valid feedback.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I did my part!

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 2 points 7 hours ago

Thank you!

[–] comrade_twisty@feddit.org 16 points 23 hours ago (4 children)

Ban X, Ban TikTok

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Make european replacements. So under eu law.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 1 points 7 hours ago

Do leave a comment about that. Make your opinion heard officially too.

[–] jimmy90@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

enforce the disinformation fines first and force corrections with the same impact on the same publishing media

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 13 points 23 hours ago

Fund Mastodon, Loops and Friendica.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

If you're a European, do fill in the questionnaire and make that comment! The more the merrier.

[–] comrade_twisty@feddit.org 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I’m European first but Swiss second, so not an EU citizen unfortunately.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 1 points 7 hours ago

Someone reported that they could fill in the thing with a random email and name. You might be able to leave a comment regardless. Kinda weird, but if it's possible...

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Europe is definitely more resilient in protecting democracy as they have countries using proportional representation.

[–] breakingcups@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes, but we're not immune. Populism is heavily represented in almost every country.

[–] Snoopy@piefed.social 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Well sadly not France. Boloré hold medias and is converting people to far right. The fifth republic in france has problem and lack democracy... :(

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

France uses the second-round system.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

For presidential elections, yes. For other elections it is proportional. They should use ranked choice for presidential elections but that's not going to happen in the 5th republic. It'll need another revolution or constitutional change to fix their system.

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 2 points 17 hours ago

They should definitely use the single transferable vote for presidential elections.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's certainly nice, but it's mostly irrelevant in the long run without a more serious remedy to the issues the far right uses to gain legitimacy.

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I beg to differ. Countries that use pr have much higher voter turnout and perform better on every issue thus reducing the chances of the people feeling frustrated and voting in fascists in hope of change.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io -4 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

That's definitely true, but then again AfD got the highest number of seats in Germany's last election for example. PR is nice but not much more than a bandaid if your politicians are crooks, which let's face it they are.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 4 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

second largest.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 1 points 22 hours ago

Oh yeah you're right.

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 4 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

People in Germany need to vote for better parties and the centre and left parties need to make better decisions when in power, however that is not the fault of pr. It is one of many important reforms democracies need to make. One reason why the AfD has gotten so far is because of the Germans’ reliance on Twitter with Elon Musk manipulating the platform to give AfD artificial public support in the election thus reinforcing the band wagon effect.

At least in Germany you can see how much popular support the AfD have instead of them lurking behind the 2 big parties and that’s great transparency to have in democracy. Also the people have more viable choices on the ballot instead of just having 2 choices.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 1 points 23 hours ago

People in Germany need to vote for better parties and the centre and left parties need to make better decisions when in power, however that is not the fault of pr

I'm not saying it's the fault of PR, but rather that a good voting system alone will not stop fascism. As you said non-right parties need to make better decisions when in power, but also the people themselves need to be more civically engaged outside of elections.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 9 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

The investment in a social democracy/ social safety it ultimately what is safeguarding Europe, because it precludes the motivations/ grievances which create surface area for misinformation to operate on. Its not that it isn't possible, it just has a much more difficult time taking hold.

The UK is a great example of this, where they seem religiously committed to austerity as the approach for addressing most issues; this gave rise to grievance politics because, well, austerity does hurt people; grievance politics gives misinformation something to operate on (its the continents fault); brexxit happens; life gets worse; misinformation gains an even further foothold because now its premise has been validated, and there is even more grievance to operate on.

Grievance is the scar tissue which misinformation operates upon. Misinformation is the bacteria which spread and cause death, but without the wound of grievance, there is nothing to do. Creates strong mechanisms for grievances to be addressed (engaged democratic processes; responsive governance).

[–] splendoruranium@infosec.pub 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

The investment in a social democracy/ social safety it ultimately what is safeguarding Europe, because it precludes the motivations/ grievances which create surface area for misinformation to operate on. Its not that it isn’t possible, it just has a much more difficult time taking hold.

The UK is a great example of this, where they seem religiously committed to austerity as the approach for addressing most issues; this gave rise to grievance politics because, well, austerity does hurt people; grievance politics gives misinformation something to operate on (its the continents fault); brexxit happens; life gets worse; misinformation gains an even further foothold because now its premise has been validated, and there is even more grievance to operate on.

Grievance is the scar tissue which misinformation operates upon. Misinformation is the bacteria which spread and cause death, but without the wound of grievance, there is nothing to do. Creates strong mechanisms for grievances to be addressed (engaged democratic processes; responsive governance).

Whatever actual or perceived grievances a person may have (even though merely being born in Europe already constitutes winning the global class lottery) - that only ever causes vulnurability. That person then turning to actively undermining democratic systems and the international community is something that only happens if some con artist uses that vulnurability to convince the person that it constitutes a solution to their problems.

Universal wealth and happiness are nice, but the immediate, separate and and more solveable issue is not continuing to give microphones and political offices to con artists. Letting folk get scammed out of their vote is just as detrimental to a healthy society as letting folk get scammed out of their life savings - if not more.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 3 points 18 hours ago

The investment in a social democracy/ social safety it ultimately what is safeguarding Europe

For now. Right-wing parties are gaining ground and it's helped a lot by US media that's being abused by Russia. A lot more has to be done.

[–] Comtief@lemm.ee 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (2 children)

10 mins? damn you guys are fast. it took me that time just to realize there is a document. edit: btw is that the actual feedback form? https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/EuropeanDemocracyShieldConsultation

[–] Kissaki@feddit.org 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Took me about 30 min to fill out (:

not counting the time of confusion before that - I was also very confuse by the page layout and content and give feedback section and form.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

"Give feedback" takes you to the form and "Go to consultation" takes you to a page about the questionnaire and more information, then you can click on "Respond to questionnaire". Both paths get you there.

The questionnaire says the same as the PDF document.

[–] Comtief@lemm.ee 2 points 17 hours ago

Yeah I figured it out eventually. My dumb ass thought initialIy that i need to write into that comment box on the initial page.

[–] vane@lemmy.world 4 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

How are they sure russian bots are not responding to those questions ?

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Because they need to create an account tied to an EU identity?

[–] vane@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I just registered with random email and password and can fill the survey. So how it's tied to EU identity ?

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 1 points 7 hours ago

Oh, that wasn't the case for me. Were you forced to use two-factor authentication?