The Forum on Information and Democracy (FID), a non-profit entity implementing democratic principles, and its partners have released the results of a dedicated workstream on strengthening information integrity on private messaging platforms and called on governments to regulate their features rather than categories and to clearly define private and public communications.
The call comes in the face of private messaging platforms that have kept on posing threats to information integrity and access to reliable information.
The report, titled “Identifying Solutions to Protect Information Integrity on Private Messaging Platforms”, calls for a new approach, such as regulating platform features and clearly defining public and private communications to take into account the hybrid characteristics of private messaging platforms. This approach, according to the report, enables dealing with coordinated disinformation campaigns on broadcasting features while safeguarding private and encrypted communications.
Co-chaired by the governments of Ukraine and Luxembourg, the workstream was launched in February 2025 and elaborated with the support of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. The results of this year-long process were released on March 10, 2026, during an online webinar addressed to regulators, policy makers, the research community, and civil society.
Explaining the workstream, Mr Camille Grenier, Executive Director of the Forum on Information and Democracy, said, “While increasingly used to spread disinformation and propaganda, private messaging platforms are a blind spot of current regulatory tools and discussion. Their dual nature of private and public space poses complex problems to solve notably when it comes to preserving the right to encryption.” He also appreciated FID’s partners.
The workstream, which was facilitated by FID, brought together 80 policy makers comprising civil society experts and researchers from 30 countries to discuss the challenges posed by private messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram. Their discussions also built on an international questionnaire addressed to the 57 governments of the Partnership for Information and Democracy.
The discussions underlined the evolving and mixed nature of these platforms, which are spaces for secure private communication and, at the same time, also act as broadcasting and mass dissemination tools. Their encrypted features, combined with their large-scale reach, pose distinct challenges.
FID observed that online platforms have traditionally been regulated by platform category, but noted that private messaging platforms have either been exempted or the application of obligations has been inconsistent and unclear.
Meanwhile, Luxembourg and Ukraine explained that “This report underscores that no single solution will suffice. While regulatory frameworks must evolve to address the hybrid public-private nature of these platforms, the long-term protection of our information ecosystems hinges on media literacy and societal resilience. We urge all 57 countries of the Partnership for Information and Democracy to carefully study these findings.”
The proposed new approach by FID includes regulating platform features rather than platform categories to reflect the hybrid nature of private messaging platforms; clarifying definitions of “public” and “private” to adapt regulatory obligations and ensure that encryption applies to spaces for which users’ have a legitimate expectation of privacy; protecting encryption in private communication and avoiding any obligations that render encryption legally or technically unworkable; and investing in societal resilience and international cooperation through sustained media literacy, sharing of best practices, and development of international standards.
The FID acknowledged that the European Commission’s designation of WhatsApp Channels as a VLOP is a first step in this direction, but added that further regulatory clarifications, regulatory tools, and media literacy strategies are needed to protect information integrity on private messaging platforms.
Please click to download the report, Identifying Solutions to Protect Information Integrity on Private Messaging Platforms.
