Building an enabling environment for democratic debate: Insights from community-governed platforms to cultivate a resilient election information ecosystem in Europe
Research has examined the role of centralised, commercial Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) in disseminating disinformation during elections. However, it has not explored how non-commercial platforms with a community-governed model address this phenomenon, or whether they offer transferable practices to promote a transparent and resilient information ecosystem in the EU.
Wikipedia is the most visible and widely used among these platforms. It is entirely produced by communities of volunteers who fact-check and peer-review information, providing content on a wide range of topics, including political and contested issues. As the only non-commercial platform designated as a VLOP under the Digital Services Act, examining how Wikipedia deals with disinformation can offer new approaches to improving the health of the EU information ecosystem.
Through interdisciplinary and transnational in-depth research, DEM-Debate will map EU regulatory frameworks relevant to community-governed platforms dealing with disinformation, analyse Wikipedia communities’ risk-mitigation measures, and conduct computational analysis of their interactions. By continuously engaging Wikimedia communities in Europe, the project will produce forward-looking policy recommendations to strengthen the information ecosystem. These recommendations will directly benet policymakers, Wikipedia communities, other community-governed projects, the research community, and fact-checkers.
With contributions from experts in civil society (Wikimedia Europe), academia (University of Amsterdam), and applied research (Eurecat) across Europe, DEM-Debate will empower stakeholders at the EU level and contribute to building a more resilient information ecosystem to safeguard democratic processes in Europe.
See also: https://gulbenkian.pt/emifund/projects/dem-debate/