GRF · Information Integrity and Public Trust
Decision-rights context
Decisions about information involve some of the most sensitive questions in public life: what may be said, what may be removed, who must disclose what, and how authorities communicate. This page locates the competent decision-makers on the questions Information Integrity and Public Trust examines, sets out the boundaries between them, and explains how dialogue can inform their decisions without replacing their authority or influencing editorial independence.
- STEM methods
- 3
- Canonical methods this field applies
- Topics
- 8
- Subject pages in the field
- Counterparts
- 5
- Platforms in shared fields across the network
- Report series
- 1
- Reports series it contributes to
Authority over information is deliberately dispersed.
Law and rights
Parliaments set the legal limits of expression and the duties of intermediaries; courts interpret them and protect fundamental rights.
Media and online regulation
Where they exist, media and online safety regulators apply the law with protected independence.
Editorial and design choices
News organisations decide what they publish under editorial independence; platforms decide their rules and design within the law.
Field overview.
The screen a team would use to follow this subject: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
Who decides about content.
| Decision | Holder |
|---|---|
| Moderate content under terms of service | Platform |
| Enforce platform regulation | Designated regulator, such as Digital Services Coordinators in the EU |
| Restrict expression lawfully | Legislature and courts, under the three-part test |
| Issue crisis information for the public | Designated authority |
Responsibilities beyond regulation.
Public authorities decide how they communicate with citizens, including warnings and health guidance, and are accountable for the accuracy and fairness of that communication. Their role is to inform, not to control the wider information environment. Independent fact-checkers, researchers and civil society organisations make their own judgements under their own methods.
Citizens and communities hold rights of access to information and freedom of expression, and in many places rights over data about themselves. Any measure that affects these rights needs a legal basis, proportionality and an avenue for challenge.
What dialogue adds, and where it stops.
Information Integrity and Public Trust brings research, cases and structured options to people who decide, and convenes dialogues among researchers, communicators, platforms and public institutions. It does not decide on content, advise on the removal of specific speech, act for any authority or interfere with editorial independence.
- Participants take part in their professional capacity and do not commit their organisations.
- Sponsors and hosts have no say over findings or records.
- Research involving individuals' data follows ethics review and applicable data protection law.
GRF convenes and governs programmes. It does not regulate, finance, procure or certify, and hosting or sponsorship confers no authority over findings.
Where this page's references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Questions and answers.
Does GRF make decisions on these issues?
Can the platform ask platforms to remove content?
How is free expression protected in the platform's own work?
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
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Legal documents.
Show all 18 legal documents
Maps, data and figures on this site are shown for context and general information. They are not advice, forecasts or warnings; the limits of the information are set out in the Disclaimers and Data Notices.