Public-private co-operation (principle 7) means that operators and platforms should cooperate with electoral authorities, both in order to detect threats and to spread official information. It also means that the role of civil society, journalists, and fact-checkers is crucial. At the same time, democratic political leaders have begun to confront disinformation more directly. For example, in electoral debates some dismantle false data from rivals live (citing official sources). However, the Venice Commission considers it “crucial that the response to the challenges posed by digital technologies on democracy and human rights is not left to self-regulatory mechanisms alone”. In other words, it recommends that, during electoral campaigns, the states take positive measures to translate human rights and international standards in the electoral field into the digital environment, in particular to ensure a level-playing field and thus freedom of voters to form an opinion as well as equality of opportunity, while being neutral and refraining from taking sides in public debate . Any such measures should provide timely and speedy results as during election campaigns, discriminatory statements or hate speech can not only impact the vulnerable minority groups – including migrants, asylum seekers and refugees - but also distort the public debate.