In the context of growing concern about the impact that information manipulation and disinformation are having on our societies, Spain and France declare their intention to develop cooperation projects aimed at supporting the media in order to guarantee reliable, verified, professional and independent information, combat information manipulation and disinformation, and strengthen the sense of European belonging. The State Visit of the President of the French Republic to Spain on 29 and 30 September 2026, with which the Spanish and French Ministers for Foreign Affairs are closely involved, is intended to provide common responses to these issues.
The rise in information manipulation, the increase in foreign information interference, including through the digital space, risks to electoral processes and the economic difficulties faced by independent media ecosystems constitute strategic challenges and security issues that we share. The information space is now being flooded with hostile content based on distorted or manipulated facts that seeks to destabilise our societies and directly attack our European values. It is therefore appropriate to consolidate our digital sovereignty at European level, particularly in the audiovisual and media sectors. To this end, the existence of a viable and sustainable information ecosystem must be guaranteed, enabling free, high-quality information and the development of critical thinking, while also taking into account the status of Spanish and French as global languages. The resilience of European democracies in the face of the intensification of information attacks also requires the dissemination of the European values that unite more than 450 million Europeans around a shared collective vision.
In the context of the information war we are currently experiencing, we will support Spanish-French projects committed to information integrity and to promoting the European project and European values.
We support the project to strengthen ARTE’s European dimension, which would bring together citizens across Europe through a shared audiovisual platform, showcasing Europe’s cultural and linguistic diversity. Spain and France support the initiatives of Arte and RTVE to carry out this project, as well as the mobilisation of EU instruments, particularly financial instruments, to consolidate this process.
Within the framework of the International Partnership for Information and Democracy, adopted in 2019 in the context of the United Nations General Assembly, we support the need to promote an environment conducive to reliable information for citizens, in line with the professional ethical standards of journalism, so that citizens can form informed opinions. In a context in which widespread disinformation contributes to undermining trust in institutions and democratic processes, professional journalism is being weakened and private actors are exerting increasing influence, Spain and France will support the implementation of the Partnership’s principles through the work of the Forum on Information and Democracy.
In line with the positions taken by Spain and France, at European level we will support the full implementation and strengthening of the Digital Services Act (DSA), with the aim of holding platforms more accountable, stepping up measures to combat information manipulation and improving procedures for removing illegal content under the domestic laws of the Member States. In this regard, we reiterate our call on the European Commission to review and strengthen the 2024 guidelines on the prevention of systemic risks to electoral processes on large platforms. In this area, we will continue to exchange information and good practices between our competent authorities in order to improve our response to the threats posed by disinformation and information manipulation, including within the framework of the European Centre for Democratic Resilience that we share. We will also continue working, in line with Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright in the Digital Single Market, to strengthen the effectiveness of the related right of press publishers and the fair recognition of their contribution, with the aim of ensuring the viability of the press sector and thereby promoting the availability of reliable information. Indeed, the ability of press publishers to finance their activities remains a democratic necessity in order to respond to disinformation campaigns in the Member States.
We support banning access to social media for minors below a certain age, including at European level. The OECD’s 2026 PISA report has been unequivocal regarding the correlation between educational performance and the use of social media.
In this way, we would like to create international momentum to protect children around the world and hold digital platforms accountable. This protection will need to be underpinned by the implementation of an effective age-verification system that guarantees a high level of protection for personal data and privacy.
In parallel, we will continue to support all independent media, whose role is decisive in maintaining diverse, pluralistic and reliable information, as well as in protecting our democratic values. In line with the Paris Declaration on Multilateral Action for Information Integrity and Independent Media, signed by our two countries on 29 October 2025, we will continue to support multilateral initiatives that contribute to defending this public good, such as the work of the International Fund for Public Interest Media.
These initiatives are complementary in terms of their objectives, geographical scope, formats and audiences, and are priorities for both our countries. We therefore announce the creation of a Spanish-French working group, comprising teams from the French and Spanish Ministries of Foreign Affairs, as well as from the relevant ministries, which will meet from January 2027 onwards to guide the implementation of these projects and intensify Spanish-French institutional cooperation on the protection of our information space.
—NON OFFICIAL TRANSLATION—