We got the tremendous honour to be invited by STOA; the Panel for the Future of Science and Technology of the European Parliament.
On the 9th of June, STOA organised a Workshop, hosted by Brando Benifei (STOA MEP) and facilitated by EUMANS, a paneuropean movement for citizen-led initiatives, titled:
In brief, we made following statement:
Our digital public square is increasingly a private one. Most political debate today runs through a handful of American platforms optimised for engagement, not democracy. But as this recent panel discussion on CivicTech and the digital public sphere made clear, this isn't inevitable —it's the result of deliberate design choices, regulatory inaction, and chronic public underinvestment.
We made a compelling case that the technology to build something better already exists. 94 CivicTech tools analysed in a recent STOA study are largely capable: The bottleneck isn't technical, it's political. What's missing is institutional commitment: The mandate to take citizen input seriously, mechanisms to close the feedback loop, and sustained public funding that outlasts electoral cycles.
The good news is that alternatives are being tested across Europe (e.g. EU Voice-Video from the EDPS, and our current research on it —ps. our publication is currently under review...). The harder truth is that scaling them requires actors with real institutional power —governments, public broadcasters, political parties and civic society actors— to accept short-term friction for long-term democratic resilience. As we put it: the concentration of power in Big Tech isn't a law of nature. It's a political choice. And it can be unmade.
As the forthcoming publication of our FediVariety report shows as well: The shortest answer to the question “What can we do to change it?” is that we really need a collective, collaborative and coordinated effort. Plus the bravery and willingness to experiment! Keep it up!
And thank you all, for the opportunity to provide our insights on this matter!