Brussels, 26 September 2024
Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová, is in Canada to discuss the risks of disinformation and foreign interference in our democracies and electoral integrity, as well as on the challenges to media freedom and pluralism, and online safety for all.
Today, the Vice-President will visit the ‘Citizen Lab’ at the University of Toronto to exchange with researchers on the threats of disinformation and foreign interference in the light of the European elections and upcoming US elections. She will deliver a keynote address at the conference titled ‘Attention: The Kids Are All Right’, organised by the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, and the Paradigms Media Technology Network. In this context, she will exchange with key Canadian and international stakeholders on global approaches to online safety, as well as on the rules currently in place and needed in the future to secure a better digital experience for the youth.
Tomorrow, the Vice-President will travel to Ottawa, where she will meet with senior fellows at the MacDonald Laurier & Ottawa Information Integrity Lab to further exchange on disinformation and foreign interference. She will also hold discussions with Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian National Heritage on matters related to media sustainability, copyright and the role of platforms. Vice-President Jourová will later meet with members of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, as well as with the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada to exchange on election integrity and the role of foreign interference. The Vice-President will also meet with Canadian Justice Marie-Josée Hogue to discuss election interference in Canada.
As stated in her Political Guidelines, President von der Leyen announced that she will propose a new European Democracy Shield to counter foreign information manipulation and interference online, increasing situational awareness by detecting, analysing and countering disinformation and information manipulation. As part of these actions, the focus will be on increasing digital and media literacy and stepping up our efforts on digital enforcement in line with the Digital Services Act.
Source – EU Commission