We identified a network of 19 inauthentic #Telegram channels posing as independent news outlets. No newsroom. No editorial process. Just automated posting, purchased subscribers, and amplification of Kremlin-aligned disinformation. What does this say about the EU's regulation of Telegram? 👇

Magyar's removal of the President and the head of Constitutional Court is a drastic move. Yet, it does not leave the best impression of conduct by a majority that vowed to hew close to the ideals of the rule of law while reforming the country, writes @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social: shorturl.at/MuAdU

Magyar's Rule of Law Chainsaw Risks Cutting Down the Roots

Prime Minister's dismissal of Tamás Sulyok and Péter Polt is a perilous but necessary adventure for the rule of law in Hungary.

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How can we balance independence, accountability, and democratic legitimacy in Europe's judiciary councils? Follow our @arnisatepelija.bsky.social for more analysis on the rule of law 👀 👇

arnisatepelija.bsky.social@arnisatepelija.bsky.social · last wk.

Have the post-1990 European standards on judicial councils reached their limits? Judicial self-governance, largely shaped by Western European constitutional experience and later promoted across Central and Eastern Europe as a rule-of-law benchmark, is beginning to face new questions from within.

Governments want citizen participation but many still lack the tools, evidence or peers to do it well. That's the gap Nets4Dem 2.0 closes. Read more 👉 bit.ly/4bafzj5

Nets4Dem enters new phase of European collaboration in democratic innovation - Nets4Dem

Two years after its launch, Nets4Dem – the Network of...

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Nets4Dem is entering its next phase 👏 Over the last three years, Nets4Dem has grown into a connected community of practitioners, researchers and institutions across Europe.

🇵🇱⚖️Polish rule of law crisis latest: Ziobro might be good at evading justice, but some people weren't as lucky, and now we have a black bar on the eyes of two guys who ran a state-owned fund to promote Poland abroad by, among others ... planting billboards about how Polish judges are bad. 1/

Notes from Poland @notesfrompoland.bsky.social · 3w ago

A senior official under Poland's former PiS government has been charged over the alleged misspending of funds. The case relates to a campaign in 2017 that used 8.4 million zloty meant for promoting Poland abroad to instead advertise PiS's judicial reforms domestically.

A World Cup referee gave USA's Folarin Balogun a red card. This is an automatic one-match ban. Then Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino. FIFA broke its own rules to please the U.S. president, and Balogun played the next game anyway. There's a name for this in authoritarian states… 👇

Civil society is a key pillar of democracy. But in some cases, civil society can undermine the very system it upholds. As legislative bodies move to regulate civil society, our new project will assess whether regulation is necessary and, if so, the form it should take. Read more: bit.ly/4vlvlia

Ensuring Ukrainian youth are active participants in public life 👏 DRI and Ukraine's Ministry of Youth and Sports signed a Memorandum at #URC2026 in Gdansk to strengthen youth leadership and democratic recovery.

⚖️ Europe's #RuleofLaw can't be a mere annual check-in! We welcome the @ec.europa.eu's 7th Rule of Law Report, but it still lacks teeth: no concrete follow-up, no framework to hold Member States accountable. This is why we signed his statement with @epd.eu Two urgent issues 👇

European Partnership for Democracy@epd.eu · last mo.

#Policy💬 📌 Year after year, the #RuleofLaw Report flags the same issues, but without adequate follow-ups. EPD and 36 civil society organisations are calling on the European Commission to turn stocktaking into action ahead of the 2026 report 🧵👇

🧑‍🎨🎨 Calling all creatives worldwide! Do you also think democracy needs more creativity and focus on the future? DRI and other partners at the Democracy Narratives Alliance want to see more of such stories. Here’s where the #DemocracyStoriesLab comes in! 👇

People Powered@peoplepowered.org · 2mo ago

The Democracy Stories Lab is live! An open call for creators to share visual stories about what democracy could look and feel like. 4 winners get $1,000. 5 honorable mentions get $500. Applications open July 14. See the full call + stay updated→ www.peoplepowered.org/news-content...

Decentralised social media networks 🤔 What are they exactly? How are they different from other platforms? And could they be part of the answer to disinformation? Hear from @aaron.bsky.team, @bsky.app's Head of Trust and Safety, who joined us at #DisinfoCon2025

“Europe is not immune to democratic pressures, but we have active citizens,” says Paul Zoubkov, from @democracyreporting.bsky.social. “We have committed local governments, independent civil society and institutions that continue to invest in democratic renewal.”

The EU is developing guidance on AI use in elections. Here's what we told them ✍🏽 We submitted input to the European Commission's targeted stakeholder consultation under the European Democracy Shield, drawing on our research across 2024 European Parliament, 2025 German and 2026 Hungarian elections.

Ukraine's democratic institutions are still standing. But three years of full-scale war are placing a growing strain on checks and balances, political pluralism, and accountability. We conducted our 2025 assessment, "Ukrainian Democratic Institutions During Wartime". Some key takeaways 👇

We found a coordinated Serbian network of inauthentic accounts on X 🔍 We identified 337 of such accounts, all working to boost content supporting Orbán and Fidesz. Here's what we found and why we suspect the accounts are inauthentic 👇🏽

Potatoes for votes? 🥔 AI-generated videos in the 2026 Hungarian election mocked voters as rural women trading votes for sacks; among other damaging tropes. We identified 22 accounts, 2,043 vids, 53.6M views. 1/3 of them unlabeled, despite TikTok's AI labelling rules. @stiftungmercator.bsky.social

⚖️🇪🇺 Rule of law expert and keen on EU finances? We are seeking a consultant to analyse rule-of-law conditionality in the next EU Multiannual Financial Framework to understand how the EU embeds rule-of-law standards across the post-2027 budget. More info & application instructions: 🔗 bit.ly/4v3ZJho

Happening in two hours 📣 We're launching DRI’s latest Ukraine’s Democracy During Wartime assessment! 🇺🇦 The report draws on input from 60+ Ukrainian experts across government, parliament, judiciary, and civil society. Join the conversation 👉 bit.ly/42FlTKX

We're launching DRI’s latest Ukraine’s Democracy During Wartime assessment! 🇺🇦 📅 May 26, 2026 🕓 16:00 - 17:15 CEST The report draws on input from 60+ Ukrainian experts across government, parliament, judiciary, and civil society. Join the conversation 👉 bit.ly/42FlTKX

Hack the Hate, Renew Democracy 👩🏽‍💻 Registrations are open for the Democracy Hackathon in Strasbourg (17–19 June) alongside #NoHateSpeechWeek, with 80 participants from 46 countries building tech solutions to fight online hate. Apply now: democracyhackathon.coe.int

War tests armies. But it also tests institutions 🇺🇦 Join us for the launch of DRI’s latest Ukraine’s Democracy During Wartime assessment. 📅 May 26, 2026 🕓 16:00 - 17:15 CEST

Platforms are failing the AI governance test 🚨 Examples from recent elections: 🇭🇺 An official account shared AI visuals portraying a rival as a Ukrainian puppet 🇮🇹 Disturbing, nationalistic AI-generated visuals were used in campaign content

Can you dismantle a system without becoming what you set out to replace? That is the challenge facing Péter Magyar in Hungary. On paper, the numbers are clear. Tisza holds a two- thirds majority in parliament. Enough to rewrite the constitution. In reality, it is not that simple👇

Democratic resilience cannot be built by institutions alone 💯 At our 6th Nets4Dem Democracy Retreat, policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and experts came together to explore how the European Democracy Shield can actually work in practice. Learn more: bit.ly/41TEpib

The European Democracy Shield: From intention to reality | Democracy Retreat #6 - Nets4Dem

The Nets4Dem 6th Democracy Retreat “The European Democracy Shield: from intention...

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🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈⚖️🇭🇺 A legal earthquake - CJEU finds Hungary to have violated EU law on multiple counts with its anti-LGBT+ legislation (as expected) but also for the first time in history, in an EU law-reshaping precedent, finds Hungary to violate Art 2 TEU in a self-standing manner.

Hungary handed Magyar & Tisza a historic victory & now the real work begins! 👉How can a new government restore trust & reform a system stacked against it? 👉What does this mean for the EU’s #Ruleoflaw agenda? Register for our webinar & join the discussion: bit.ly/3Orir2O 📆Wed 15 April ⏰11:00 CEST

Hungary votes this Sunday. Three parties, each with a starkly different vision for the country's future. Edit Zgut-Przybylska helped us analyse party programmes, compare positions across five key areas, and outline possible scenarios after the election. 👇

Join us 5 May in Brussels for the Nets4Dem conference by @eurocities.eu and @tepsa.bsky.social 👏 We're bringing together cities, EU institutions and civil society for insights, collaboration, and even an award for democratic innovation 🏆 Register now 👉 bit.ly/4t0HuJf

Let’s talk impact. What did Nets4Dem achieve in 2025? 🏛️ 90+ public bodies and organisations supported 👥 60+ policymakers and practitioners mentored 📝 400+ research projects analysed 🤝🏽 11 new participatory solutions developed 💬 380 stakeholders engaged in dialogue