Under the Maltese Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the conference “Building Democratic Resilience to Disinformation” took place in Kalkara, Malta, bringing together policymakers, regulators, journalists, civil society, academia and the technology sector. The event focused on the impact of disinformation on democracy and public trust, as well as on solutions to strengthen resilience.

With the support of the Council of Europe, the Republic of Moldova was represented through the participation of the Chair of the Audiovisual Council, Liliana Vițu. In her address, she outlined how the Council of Europe’s standards and practices are applied in assessing harmful or illegal content, including hate speech. She also highlighted actions undertaken by the regulatory authority to strengthen societal resilience to disinformation, such as the launch of the National Study on Media Literacy in the Republic of Moldova, conducted with the support of the Council of Europe Office in Chișinău.

Liliana Vițu noted that the responsibility for reducing the effects of disinformation rests with all members of society through: supporting investigative journalism, introducing media literacy classes from kindergarten, revising the way history is taught, promoting transparency of media ownership and the sources of funding for media institutions, and valuing ethical journalism.

The representation of the Republic of Moldova at the Conference was organised in the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Advancing Media Freedom in the Republic of Moldova.”