In today’s information ecosystem, control over the narrative has become as powerful a lever as economic or military resources. Disinformation, computational propaganda, and algorithmic manipulation are eroding citizens’ trust in institutions and redrawing the boundaries between national security, freedom of expression, and digital sovereignty — challenging the European Union to strike a balance between protecting democracy and the risk of regulatory overreach.
This panel examines the limits and potential of the EU’s regulatory framework (from the Digital Services Act to the Code of Practice on Disinformation) in countering these emerging forms of information-based power. It asks whether regulation — by nature reactive and territorially bound — can keep pace with global actors and fast-evolving technologies, or whether it risks chasing symptoms without addressing the structural roots of Europe’s informational vulnerability.
The discussion will offer the audience a critical perspective on how Europe can defend its democratic information space without sliding into either overregulation or inaction, at a time when information itself has become a battleground between competing powers.
