On June 25, 2026, Dr. David Passarelli, Director Global Governance Innovation (GGI) Platform, joined a panel on “Digital Democracy and Freedom of Speech: Platforms, Power, and the Future of Democratic Debate” at the Digital Humanism Conference in Vienna, hosted at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

The panel chaired by Matthias Pfeffer, Founding Director of the Council for European Public Space, discussed how online platforms, while increasing participation, see free speech used to exclude voices and content moderation as censorship. Panelists talked about how democracies can keep open discussions going without letting free speech turn into a threat to diversity. David surfaced UN governance initiatives related to information integrity, including efforts within the UN80 process to establish new mechanisms and joint strategies on this topic.

The discussion connects to GGI’s ongoing work on digital governance, including a recent lunch talk by Professor Simon Chesterman and a conversation with him available on YouTube.