On Monday, November 17, the Czech Republic and Slovakia commemorate 36 years since regaining freedom and democracy. The protests of 1989 were a reaction to the lack of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression. Today’s anniversary reminds us that freedom of speech cannot be taken for granted – it must be protected and cultivated, especially in an age of digital technology, information overload, and new regulations. One of the most debated European regulations is the Digital Services Act (DSA), which focuses, among other things, on a safe online environment. On the occasion of the Day of the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy, we are publishing the results of a survey conducted in cooperation with the IPSOS agency in nine European countries.
According to the survey, half of the respondents (50%) believe that the DSA aims to create a safe online environment and protect the fundamental rights of users. On the contrary, 28% perceive the regulation as a restriction of freedom of speech and the introduction of censorship. The vast majority of the population in the countries surveyed (79%) considers the problem of disinformation to be serious. The same percentage also believes that disinformation poses a security threat.
Restricting disinformation through state intervention – yes or no?
Sixty-eight percent of respondents agree that the state should actively intervene against the spread of false and manipulative information. This position has the strongest support in Poland (78%) and France (74%), and the weakest in Hungary (58%). In the Czech Republic, 65% of respondents agree with state intervention, and in Slovakia, 67%.
Criticism of the DSA by the US is perceived as commercially motivated
The European DSA regulation faces repeated criticism from US government officials, who describe it as a tool for global censorship and a threat to freedom of expression. According to CEDMO research, 49% of Europeans believe that this criticism is motivated by an effort to protect the commercial interests of tech giants such as Meta and X. Only about one-fifth (21%) of people agree that the DSA should be repealed because of criticism from US representatives.
In the Czech Republic, 41% of respondents agree with the statement that attacks by US government officials are motivated by the protection of the financial interests of US private companies. This opinion is fairly evenly distributed across age groups, with a slight predominance among the oldest respondents. Almost the same proportion (40%) agree with the official characterization of the DSA as a tool for protecting users and ensuring a safe online environment. In this case, the level of agreement is highest among young people under the age of 24 and decreases with the age of respondents,” comments sociologist and data analyst Ivan Ruta Cuker from CEDMO.
The problem of disinformation from a Central European perspective (V4)
In the Visegrad Group countries (Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary), approximately 80% of the population considers disinformation to be a significant problem. Nevertheless, attitudes towards its solution vary. In Poland and Slovakia, more people consider disinformation to be a direct security threat, while in Czechia and Hungary, this view is less widespread.
The differences can be explained to a large extent by the political and media context. In Poland and Hungary, the public sphere is highly polarized, which influences perceptions of the role of the state. Poles are among the strongest supporters of state intervention (78%), while Hungarians are the most cautious in this regard (58%). In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, overall distrust of institutions plays a greater role—people perceive the issue as serious but are less reliant on the state to intervene.
“These differences show that Central Europe remains a region where information security intersects with the issue of state legitimacy and trust in democratic institutions. Effective defense against disinformation will therefore not consist solely of regulation or censorship, but above all in increasing media literacy, transparent communication by governments, and restoring social trust, which is perhaps the most vulnerable component throughout Central Europe,” concludes IPSOS analyst Michal Kormaňák.
* CEDMO Tracking V4+5 is an international research project led by Charles University, focused on monitoring European public attitudes towards changes in the regulatory environment of digital media and current social issues such as generative artificial intelligence, information disorders, quality of life, and the evaluation of democracy. It also focuses on mapping the development of these trends. The research is conducted in five waves every two months in nine European Union countries: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, and France. The first wave took place from June 16 to July 11, 2025, with 25,024 respondents participating. The second wave ran from September 15 to October 10, with 19,022 respondents aged 15 and older participating.
* The survey is funded by the National Recovery Plan — a project called MPO 60273/24/21300/21000 CEDMO 2.0 NPO.
