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Our publications provide comprehensive analysis and evidence-based perspectives to inform policy and advance research across the field.
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Background Report: Workstream on Safeguarding Access to Reliable Information in the Age of AI
The Partnership for Information and Democracy (PID) launched, in February 2026, a workstream on Safeguarding Access to Reliable Information in the Age of AI, under the leadership of the governments of Luxembourg, Ukraine and Spain, and in collaboration with interested States of the PID.
The workstream takes stock of the challenges and opportunities AI poses to the media and to trust in information, critically evaluating this paradigm shift in power dynamics between big tech and journalism. It will provide concrete policy recommendations to safeguard the reliability of information in the age of AI.
Its first output is a background report, mapping the existing economic and epistemic challenges to public interest media in the age of AI, a look at the global state-of-the-art on tackling these subjects, and proposes ways to think about policy formulation and the road ahead.
Ads for News, News for Ads｜The role of government in reforming the digital advertising market
As the world is still grappling with the threats of disinformation, public interest media’s sustainability keeps eroding. In its latest policy brief, the Forum on Information and Democracy calls for a structural reform of the online advertising market to reroute part of its revenues towards trustworthy news sources.
The policy brief entitled Ads for News, News for Ads provides recommendations to governments which have a direct responsibility in ensuring the condition for a fair online advertising market. Recommendations encompass immediate, actionable steps such as incentives for advertisers or mandating a media exception in programmatic advertising.
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Un impuesto digital para financiar el periodismo de calidad: aplicar el principio de “quien contamina, paga” a las grandes plataformas technológicas
En respuesta a las importantes pérdidas de ingresos publicitarios que sufren los medios de comunicación, provocadas principalmente por el dominio de las plataformas de las grandes tecnológicas en este mercado, el informe de políticas aboga por la implantación de un impuesto sobre los servicios digitales de base amplia para financiar el periodismo. En él se analizan diversos intentos de aplicar este tipo de impuestos, prestando especial atención a ejemplos concretos de distintos países, entre los que destaca Austria, que ha logrado avances significativos a la hora de destinar una parte de los ingresos procedentes de su impuesto sobre la publicidad digital al periodismo.
How to mobilise the Open Government Partnership to promote information integrity in Francophone Africa: 2026 Report (FR)
In spring 2026, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) commissioned FID to work with Benin, Ivory Coast, Morocco and Senegal to incorporate the issues of information integrity and press freedom into their national action plans. In its report, FID provides an overview of the issues and presents recommendations for the four countries.
The report provides an overview of the discussions held during meetings involving the various stakeholders and sets out specific recommendations for strengthening information integrity and press freedom. It also serves as a source of inspiration for other countries undertaking open government reforms.
Background Report: Workstream on Safeguarding Access to Reliable Information in the Age of AI
The Partnership for Information and Democracy (PID) launched, in February 2026, a workstream on Safeguarding Access to Reliable Information in the Age of AI, under the leadership of the governments of Luxembourg, Ukraine and Spain, and in collaboration with interested States of the PID.
The workstream takes stock of the challenges and opportunities AI poses to the media and to trust in information, critically evaluating this paradigm shift in power dynamics between big tech and journalism. It will provide concrete policy recommendations to safeguard the reliability of information in the age of AI.
Its first output is a background report, mapping the existing economic and epistemic challenges to public interest media in the age of AI, a look at the global state-of-the-art on tackling these subjects, and proposes ways to think about policy formulation and the road ahead.
Ads for News, News for Ads｜The role of government in reforming the digital advertising market
As the world is still grappling with the threats of disinformation, public interest media’s sustainability keeps eroding. In its latest policy brief, the Forum on Information and Democracy calls for a structural reform of the online advertising market to reroute part of its revenues towards trustworthy news sources.
The policy brief entitled Ads for News, News for Ads provides recommendations to governments which have a direct responsibility in ensuring the condition for a fair online advertising market. Recommendations encompass immediate, actionable steps such as incentives for advertisers or mandating a media exception in programmatic advertising.
Workstream on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Other Environmental Issues｜Interim report ahead of COP30
Recognizing the growing threats posed by climate and environmental disinformation, attacks against press freedom, environmental journalists and activists and the importance of information integrity to tackle the climate and environmental crisis, the governments of Armenia and Brazil, in collaboration with the Forum on Information and Democracy, launched a dedicated workstream as part of the Partnership for Information and Democracy in February 2025. Convening interested States from the Partnership for Information and Democracy, civil society organisations, and researchers, the workstream held four meetings to examine challenges, share research, and identify practical policy and institutional responses.
The workstream on Information Integrity, Climate Change, and Other Environmental Issues, coordinates its efforts with the Global Initiative on Information Integrity on Climate Change and provides insights in the run-up to COP30 hosted by Brazil and COP17 to be hosted in 2026 by Armenia.
This interim report provides the preliminary results of the workstream, both the analysis of the information crisis, and the policy recommendations that can inspire COP30 discussions and outcomes.
OSCE Policy Manual｜Safeguarding media freedom in the age of Big Tech Platforms and AI – in partnership with the Forum on Information and Democracy
This Policy Manual highlights how the current digital information ecosystem — dominated by Big Tech platforms (very large social media and search engines, and increasingly also AI companies) — has become increasingly captured in ways that undermine media freedom. It underscores the need for democratic state intervention, based on the rule of law, to ensure an enabling environment for independent and pluralistic journalism.
The Manual offers a vision for healthy online information spaces, where the availability and accessibility of public interest information are ensured. It puts forward mitigation measures and key recommendations for States to implement long-term structural reforms and sustained investments to address the distortions in today’s online information ecosystem.
The recommended mitigation measures cover three key areas:
• Visibility of journalism and public interest information online
• Media viability and funding models that support public interest information
• Vigilance, or the online safety of journalists
The core of this Policy Manual lies in the guidance it provides on how to enable healthy information spaces online by freeing the ecosystem from heavily concentrated gatekeeping power, and instead fostering an enabling environment for media freedom in the algorithmic and artificial intelligence (AI) era.
It concludes that for media freedom to be safeguarded, addressing platform-related challenges alone is not sufficient. Instead, it calls for more ambitious structural reforms — to move beyond merely mitigating media dependency and towards building an independent, pluralistic online information and media landscape that can sustain democratic debate and societal resilience.
This publication is part of the project “Healthy Online Information Spaces – SAIFE Renewed”. It was produced in collaboration with the Forum on Information and Democracy.
OBSERVACOM｜”SHADOW BANNING”: The Subtle and Covert Censorship of the Major Tech Platforms – supported by the Forum on Information and Democracy and Digital Action
In today’s digital ecosystem, platforms play a central role as intermediaries in the circulation of information. As part of that role, they implement content moderation systems that include visible and relatively well-known measures. These can range from removing posts, temporarily or permanently suspending accounts, and other sanctions that users are generally informed about. These decisions are usually accompanied by users’ access to appeals mechanisms —at least under the terms set by the companies themselves— and are framed as part of compliance with their community guidelines.
The purpose of this investigation is to examine the phenomenon of shadow banning that takes place on digital platforms, identifying specific cases and analyzing their impact on the visibility of media outlets, critical voices, and underrepresented sectors. Additionally, it seeks to assess how transparent platforms are regarding these practices, along with the consequences for democratic participation in online public spaces.
Data access beyond the EU: exploring the possibilities of the DSA Article 40
The Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte and the Forum on Information and Democracy hosted a workshop on 18 September 2025 to explore how the DSA data access provisions can be leveraged beyond the EU to provide transparency and accountability.
The Economic Imperative of Investing in Public Interest Media – Statement of the High-Level Panel on Public Interest Media
Rarely has the need for public interest media been greater. At a time of heightened economic uncertainty and political disruption, the economic and broader societal benefits provided by trusted and independent news organizations are more important than ever.
The Forum on Information and Democracy has convened a High-Level Panel of leading international economists. Their collective statement examines the drivers of this crisis and proposes a concrete plan of action for governments worldwide.
Their analysis not only discusses the political and democratic consequences of free information but also delves deeply into its economic significance – an aspect that has been largely overlooked until now.
Time for a new approach: A new policy brief calls for digital taxes to fund journalism
In response to significant advertising revenue losses of the media, primarily driven by dominance of Big Tech platforms over this market, the policy brief calls for the implementation of a broad based digital services tax to fund journalism. It reviews various attempts at implementing such taxes, with a spotlight on country-specific examples, notably Austria, which has made significant strides in earmarking a portion of its digital ad tax revenue for journalism.
