The 25^th plenary meeting of the CDMSI took place on 18-20 June 2024 in Strasbourg. The meeting, chaired by Ms Maja Zarić, was opened by the Director for Democracy, Mr Matjaž Gruden who highlighted the centrality of the work and action on freedom of expression and media in the digital era to promote and preserve democracy.

The CDMSI received and considered reports from the two expert committees  on online safety and empowerment of content creators and users (MSI-eSEC) and  implications of generative artificial intelligence for freedom of expression (MSI-AI). It discussed the text of a proposed Declaration of the Committee of Ministers in support of WISIS.

Along with relevant cooperation activities and opportunities, the initiatives in implementing existing standards featured prominently in the  session. The ongoing work under the Campaign for Safety of Journalists was thoroughly addressed and exchanges with the partner civil society organisations of the Safety of journalists platform took place. The first steps in the follow-up to the newly adopted recommendation on countering SLAPPs were identified. The Committee endorsed a report compiling promising domestic practices under the 2022 recommendation on combating hate speech. The role of media in countering hate speech was explored in a parallel workshop organised in the framework of the “No Hate Speech Week”.

Fruitful exchanges took place on relevant work of other Council of Europe Steering Committees, as well as the European Audiovisual Observatory and the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA). Developments at the EU level on media freedom and safety of journalists were presented by the European Commission and their relationship with, and relevance to, Council of Europe standards was addressed. Initiatives to reinforce the partnership with the private sector were explored, notably through a presentation by the LEGO group on their approaches to children safety and empowerment online.