Protecting Democracy Online: What Next?

The "year of elections" of 2024 is over. But risks to democracy are far from over. Tech companies seem increasingly happy for misinformation, polarization, and harassment to run wild - rather than provide the public spaces that democracy needs. We - researchers, civil society, regulators, and others – must keep monitoring and critiquing how this impacts our freedoms to participate in democracy. 

New opportunities are emerging, from data access rules to research innovations.  But we also see growing challenges. What if companies refuse to comply with rules? How to deal with increasingly audio-visual content and fragmentation across platforms? How can different actors in the ecosystem of democracy - politicians, voters, and others – participate well in such a complex environment?

This session provides a space to discuss best practice approaches to these challenges, with inputs from leading experts in technical, social, and democratic questions. We will focus discussion through the lens of opportunities: What are the exciting developments - technical, social, regulatory, or otherwise - which might upgrade our abilities to protect democracy and freedoms online?

This programme session is supported by Stiftung Mercator. / Dieser Programmpunkt wird durch die Stiftung Mercator unterstützt.