CDMSI adopts feasibility study on freedom of expression in immersive realities

IRIS 2026-1:1/17

Freedom of Expression and CDMSI Division

Council of Europe

During its 28th plenary meeting held between 3 and 5 December 2025, the Council of Europe’s Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) adopted a “Feasibility Study on Benefits and Challenges to Freedom of Expression in Immersive Realities”.

The newly adopted feasibility study offers the Council of Europe’s first in-depth analysis of how immersive technologies are reshaping the exercise of freedom of expression, providing timely clarity for policymakers navigating the rapid shift towards spatial computing. It demonstrates that XR environments, where expression takes embodied, behavioural and multisensory forms, not only amplify opportunities for creativity and civic engagement, but also generate unprecedented risks linked to surveillance, manipulation, moderation and inequality. Crucially, the study concludes that the European Convention on Human Rights, particularly Article 10, already provides a sufficiently flexible and resilient framework to address these challenges, while identifying specific areas where targeted interpretative guidance and soft-law instruments would add real value in safeguarding fundamental rights as immersive realities evolve.