Digital Governance Enforcement: Platforms, Disinformation and Democratic Resilience

Countries like Bulgaria and Romania face intensifying foreign influence, with growing cognitive capture among political elites, media, and the public. This environment facilitates the spread of pro-Kremlin narratives and authoritarian sympathies within the EU. In response, the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), as part of the Bulgarian-Romanian Observatory of Digital Media (BROD), convened the international conference "Digital Governance Enforcement: Platforms, Disinformation and Democratic Resilience" on May 22, 2025. The event examined the objectives of the EC’s European Democracy Shield initiative and the role of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in combating disinformation and foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) while reinforcing democratic resilience.

The conference opened with a keynote dialogue between Janne Kuusela, Director General for Defence Policy at Finland’s Ministry of Defence, and Ruslan Stefanov, Program Director at CSD. Mr. Kuusela emphasized Finland’s whole-of-society approach to hybrid threats - blending psychological readiness and institutional coordination - while Mr. Stefanov contrasted this with the vulnerabilities of Bulgaria and Romania, where disinformation exploits low visibility and weak institutional defences. Subsequent panels, moderated by Rositsa Dzekova, Director of CSD’s Democracy Shield Task Force, stressed the blurred lines between foreign interference campaigns and local enablers. CSD’s Research Director Dr. Todor Galev addressed the evolving nature of disinformation in Bulgaria and the diverse online channels exploited for its spread, while Mădălina Botan of the National University of Political Science in Bucharest critiqued major platforms’ limited compliance with the Code of Practice on Disinformation and the DSA during Romania’s 2024 elections.

The afternoon session, chaired by CSD’s Senior Analyst Goran Georgiev, integrated institutional and private sector views. Miroslav Sazdovski of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats framed disinformation as a systemic threat requiring proactive, long-term responses. Simona Veleva, Chair of Bulgaria’s Council for Electronic Media, stressed the legal complexities of applying the Audiovisual Services Directive in fragmented media environments and highlighted the DSA’s rights-based enforcement model. Closing the event, Tremau co-founder Pál Boza underscored the importance of transparency and accountability through the risk assessment obligation for Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs), despite the additional operational burden placed on them. The conference underscored the need for synchronized legal, institutional, and civic strategies to fortify democratic resilience against foreign influence.