At an informal meeting on 6 October delegations from the Council of Europe’s 46 member states held an exchange of views with representatives of international civil society organisations active in the media field. They discussed the challenges of disinformation and propaganda which undermine democratic values, cause malfunctioning of, and erosion of trust in, democratic institutions, and create divisions in society. The aim of the exchange of views was to explore how civil society, social media platforms and media organisations can contribute to improve existing standards and practice and to the future work of the Council of Europe in this area.
The exchange of views was part of the follow-up to the decision taken by the Committee of Ministers (Helsinki Ministerial Session, May 2019) to protect and promote civil society more effectively by improving the participation of civil society organisations in the work of the Council of Europe.