The 29th plenary meeting of the Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI), chaired by Aykaterini Polyzou (Greece), took place in Strasbourg from 17 to 19 June 2026. The meeting was opened by Roberto Olla, Head of the Democratic Institutions and Freedoms Department, Directorate General of Democracy and Human Dignity, Council of Europe.

The Committee welcomed the adoption by the Committee of Ministers of Recommendation CM/Rec(2026)4 on online safety and empowerment of users and content creators and discussed follow-up activities to support its implementation.

A key focus of the meeting was the commencement of work under two newly established Committees of Experts tasked with preparing standard-setting instruments under the CDMSI Terms of Reference 2026-2027. The Committee took note of the preliminary outlines of a draft Recommendation being developed by the Committee of Experts on safeguarding media pluralism in the online environment (MSI-ePLU), and a draft Guidance Note being prepared by the Committee of Experts on media regulators in a platform-based environment (MSI-eREG). Members exchanged views on both initiatives and invited contributions to support their further development.

Discussions focused on ongoing work on the other deliverables of the CDMSI for the biennium 2026-2027, including on standards on defamation, SLAPPs, public service media, hate speech and social media influence. The Committee also took note of two experts’ studies: on Newsfluencers in Europe; and, on the protection of journalists in times of conflict under the European Convention on Human Rights.

In the framework of the Council of Europe Campaign for the Safety of Journalists, members reviewed progress achieved as well as of the forthcoming initiative Youth Facing Disinformation - Why Journalists Matter. Participants also took part in a workshop on hate speech against women journalists organised as part of the Campaign and at the occasion of the third Council of Europe No Hate Speech Week.

The Committee exchanged views with representatives of European and international institutions, including on EU media policy, philanthropic support for the media sector, and on the priorities of Monaco’s Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (May-November 2026).

The next CDMSI plenary session in scheduled to take place on 8-10 December 2026.