The EU Vision for Digital Sovereignty in the Face of Online Disinformation

Details

Supervisors

Bellanova, Rocco ; Piquet, Agathe

Faculty

Faculté des sciences économiques, sociales, politiques et de communication

Degree label

Master [120] en études européennes, à finalité spécialisée: gouvernance et sociétés européennes

Abstract

This thesis will begin by examining the concept of digital sovereignty, which is part of a broader set of social science concepts covered by various academic disciplines but in this thesis is related to the case study of countering online disinformation. The puzzle is that information manipulation threatens the democratic system in Europe because the absence of sovereignty created by the digital transformation plays a significant role. According to Bellanova et al "It reflects the growing desire of Europeans to develop digital tools for the governance and security of spaces, people, and objects" (Bellanova et al., 2022, p. 345), In fact, the voter participation for the 2014 European Parliament Elections was the lowest ever, and on top of that, several Eurosceptic movements rose to prominence and benefited from Disinformation efforts. As Lilkov mention “Populist parties across the EU directly benefit from conspiracy theories and the increased feeling of scepticism towards the political system” (Lilkov, 2019). The threat of manipulating public opinion reflects the growing tension to preserve the election integrity.