Welcome to our May 2025 Newsletter!
Just before midnight on May 13, a member of Hungary’s ruling party, Fidesz, tabled a bill which will further suppress the country’s democratic freedoms.
The ‘Transparency of Public Life’ bill will enable Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government to dramatically restrict and even blacklist organisations receiving foreign funding, including philanthropic and EU grants.
More than 320 EU civil society members have called on the European Commission to take urgent action against the legislation, saying it threatens the existence of independent media, civil society and the rule of law. And more than 90 European editors and publishers say the bill will ‘effectively outlaw the free press’.
A potentially tight election is a year away. Many see the legislation as a way for Hungary’s government to shore up its power and challenge EU institutions, norms and values.
Critical juncture
Press freedom is already deeply constrained in Hungary. Yet our grantee partners there continue to produce groundbreaking work, including an investigation last year that led to the country’s President resigning live on television.
This success, as well as scores of others by our grantees who are defending democracy, exposing injustice and holding big tech to account across Europe, are highlighted in our 2024 Annual Report, published this month.
As well as celebrating our partners’ achievements and drawing inspiration from their courage, the report assesses the grave challenges they face, and how – at this critical juncture – Civitates is helping them to meet them.
Philanthropy must fill the vacuum
Yet, just as threats to civic space and media freedom grow, funding for organisations protecting them is being slashed: 60% of our grantees have been affected by US and EU budget cuts.
Philanthropy is uniquely placed to fill the vacuum. In 2024, Civitates increased our donors from 17 to 25 foundations, and expanded our budgets across our three portfolios.
This shows we’re on the right path, but it remains a drop in the ocean. We will continue doing all we can to scale up our funding to provide the support civil society – and our democracies – desperately need.
In solidarity,
ELISA PETER
Director, Civitates
The Digital Services Act (DSA) came into force last year. Our civil society partners are already playing a critical role in its application. This month’s feature charts how AlgorithmWatch and European Digital Rights (EDRi) are using the DSA to challenge big tech’s excesses. Read the full article here.
The ‘Transparency & Consent Framework’ (TCF) – used by Google, Microsoft, Amazon, X and the entire tracking-based advertising industry to obtain “consent” for data processing – has been ruled illegal by Belgium’s Court of Appeal.
Opposition to Hungary’s proposed ‘Transparency Law’ [see above] has been swift. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) called it a “dark turn in Hungary’s erosion of democratic norms… [which] aims to starve and strangle civil society”. Meanwhile a joint statement of independent Hungarian civil society organisations and media outlets, said its “aim is to silence all critical voices and eliminate what remains of Hungarian democracy once and for all”. HHC unofficially translated the bill here.
More than 85 organisations have endorsed a letter by Romania’s Coalition NGOs for Citizens, expressing alarm at the rise in hate speech, smear campaigns, physical threats and intimidation directed at civil society in the country. “We stand united with all those under attack and reaffirm our commitment to the values of an open society: pluralism, diversity, justice, transparency, and social solidarity,” it said.
Meta’s ongoing failure to effectively moderate its advertising ecosystem is the focus of AI Forensics’ new investigative report, Meta Ads: A Pillow Hard to Swallow. It builds on their previous investigations into political ads and investment scams, and analyses Meta’s approach to health-related advertising since the Digital Services Act (DSA) came into force in August 2023.
On May 3rd, the Austrian civil society campaign organisation #aufstehn hosted its first cross-thematic networking meeting in Innsbruck. The gathering brought together engaged citizens, initiators of petitions on mein.aufstehn.at, and activists from across the region.
Our Annual Report 2024
The cracks in Europe’s democratic foundations deepened in 2024, but our partners continued to defend press freedom, challenge big tech’s power and protect civic space. Their myriad successes are documented in our 2024 Annual Report, along with what we learned, what changed, and why the fight for democracy is more urgent than ever.
Open call to support civil society in Italy
In recent years concerns have grown over the erosion of civic space in Italy. Activists, journalists, and human rights defenders face increasing legal harassment, criminalisation, and restrictions under new legislative measures. Italian civil society has responded strongly to these challenges, and has an essential role in protecting democratic values and defending the rule of law.
In light of these trends, Civitates is announcing a call for project proposals open to civil society organisations registered in Italy in order to support efforts to build democratic cultures and support civil society and civic participation.
Civitates aims to support up to 8 projects for one year (with potential no-cost extension) in a maximum amount of 30.000 EUR to selected grantees. For more information on eligibility and selection criteria, read the full proposal here.
13 / 06 – PublicSpaces Conference 2025: Shaping our Digital Future
(Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam, Netherlands)
To take back control of our digital future, PublicSpaces and Waag Futurelab are organising the fifth edition of the PublicSpaces conference, featuring more than 50 speakers and over 20 keynotes, panel discussions, workshops and other interactive sessions. Tickets available here.
10-11 / 06 – TICTeC 2025 – ‘The world’s leading summit on pro-democracy technology’
(Mechelen, Belgium and online)
TICTeC 2025 will bring together people working on defensive technology against threats to democracy, and those who are using technologies constructively to enrich and strengthen the heartbeat of civic and democratic life. Register here.
Calls:
- Boosting the visibility of fact-checking content in Europe | Shaping Europe’s digital future This call will fund projects increasing the reach and impact of professional content produced by independent fact-checking organisations in the EU. Deadline June 16. Details here.
- Detecting influence campaigns and boosting societal resilience | Shaping Europe’s digital future. Call for two proposals. The first will focus on monitoring narratives and detecting malicious campaigns in the EU’s information space. The second will focus on analysing the impact of online disinformation on citizens. Deadline June 16. Details here.
- Pan-European reporting | Shaping Europe’s digital future. This call aims to support independent pan European reporting on EU affairs by EU media outlets. Deadline June 13. Details here.
- Boosting Fact-Checking Activities in Europe – European Media and Information Fund. Call for Proposals aims at supporting projects from independent fact-checking organisations. It is exclusively dedicated to Urgent Actions. Deadline June 30. Details here.
- Visegrad Grants | International Visegrad Fund – Visegrad Fund. Visegrad grants support regional partnerships among NGOs and civil society organizations, public institutions and municipalities, private companies and nonprofit organizations as well as education and research centres that contribute to cooperation in the Visegrad region. Details and timeline for applications here.
- Grants | Journalismfund Europe. Journalismfund Europe, which strengthens European democracy by facilitating independent cross-border investigations and connecting donors with journalists and media, has a number of current calls for grants. For details and deadlines see here.
- Sphera Open Call for independent European media. Sphera Network invites independent European media outlets to submit ideas for short documentaries. The initiative seeks to engage young Europeans (18-25 year-olds) in discussions about social issues such as climate change, justice, human rights, and immigration through human-centered narratives. Details here.
- Funding Open to Engage Your Audience: Second Call for Audience-Engaged Journalism Grants – BIRN. Media outlets from 10 Balkan and Visegrad countries are invited to apply for grants, training, mentoring, and access to BIRN’s innovative audience-engagement digital tool. Information session May 29. Deadline June 29. Details here.
- The Europe Challenge 2025-2026. The European Cultural Foundation has an open call for libraries and community groups for a programme that empowers libraries and their communities to tackle today’s most pressing social, digital, and climate challenges through collaboration across European borders. Deadline May 29. Details here.
Jobs:
- Communications/Events Manager for the Fonds pour une Presse Libre (Fund for a Free Press) – Paris The Fund for a Free Press (FPL) is recruiting a communications/events manager to join its team in September 2025. The FPL is an endowment fund created in 2019 by Mediapart to defend and protect independent journalism.) Closing date June 20. Details here.
We Recommend:
- Liberties Media Freedom Report 2025. The Civil Liberties Union for Europe’s (Liberties’) fourth annual report on media freedom in the EU provides a great overview of the challenges facing independent public interest journalism across Europe.
- Case Against X: Berlin Court Confirms Researchers Can Enforce Their Right to Data Access in National Courts. Democracy Reporting International (DRI) and Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V. (GFF) achieved an important partial success on May 13 in their case against social media platform X. The Berlin Regional Court confirmed DRI was entitled to assert its claim for access to research data against X in Berlin and did not need to file suit in Ireland, where X has its European Headquarters. More details here. Written judgment available soon.
- The European Commission has referred Czechia, Spain, Cyprus, Poland and Portugal to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to fully implement key obligations under the DSA. Read more details here.
