Deliberation and disinformation: Can citizens’ assemblies foster a better-informed citizenry in the EU?

The EU has witnessed the emergence of the ‘deliberative wave’ in the past few years, which has culminated in the recent CoFoE and European Citizens’ Panels (ECPs). The calls for more deliberation and participation are coming from a wide range of diverse political actors that have joined forces to coordinate their demands and condition the political agenda to permanently institutionalize deliberation and citizens’ assemblies (CAs) in the EU political system. The 'deliberative wave' has coincided in time with the emergence of fact-checkers and a strong regulatory entrepreneurship by the EU to combat disinformation through legislations such as the Digital Services Act (DSA). While the connection between these two dimensions is not evident, one of the arguments used by the 'deliberative wave' actors is that they can help combat the latent climate of disinformation and build a more and better-informed citizenry. Therefore, the research question that guides this article is: How do actors involved in the EU ‘deliberative wave’ frame CAs as tools that can help counter disinformation? The article does not aim to analyse the functioning of these assemblies and their effects on individuals, but rather to analyse what narratives are mobilised to defend the institutionalization of deliberation and CAs as tools to combat disinformation. As such, the research will combine document analysis, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews with actors who are part of the said EU 'deliberative wave'. Furthermore, beyond the empirical analysis, the paper discusses the normative implications of the possibilities and pitfalls of CAs as tools to combat disinformation.