INTRODUCTION
Global democratic consolidation is today beset with serious difficulties. Democracy has faced increasingly subtle threats, particularly as a result of the tampering with laws and constitutional provisions meant to protect it from arbitrary action and misuse. The foundation of democratic legitimacy—free and fair elections—is being threatened by populism and post-truth movements, which make use of modern digital communication tools to mislead and confuse voters. In many nations across the world today, free and fair elections—the main manifestation of democratic intent for common governance—are far from assured. It will take a new set of laws and regulations from governments, tech companies, and individuals to protect them. Global electoral integrity is vulnerable to larger processes of democratic erosion that are felt in both new and old democracies: growing political polarization; a decline in citizen trust in government and among peers; systematic attacks on the press and independent media; the erosion of political parties as legitimate means of bringing interests together; and a growing sense of frustration that democratic governments are failing to meet people's basic needs and desires. The use of digital communication technologies, which is sometimes held responsible for this degradation of democracy, is at the core of these shifts. Some contend that social media drives people to political extremes and polarizes public discourse. Some contend that social media fosters "filter bubbles" and "echo chambers," limiting access to a range of viewpoints and information sources that promote democratic debate. Some argue social media undermines the public square and the democratic process because political campaigns utilize it to target certain voter groups with tailored appeals. Said another way, discussions of the causes and consequences of democratic decay would be lacking if they did not also examine the verifiable role that digital communications technologies are playing in this process. At the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos in January 2020, the Annan Commission on Elections and Democracy in the Digital Age unveiled its report, which outlined concrete recommendations in five key areas: polarization, hate speech, disinformation, political advertising, and foreign interference. The report called for immediate action by governments, businesses, and civil society to protect democracy from digital threats. These suggestions stem from one of the report's primary conclusions, which states that enhancing election integrity requires the participation of all pertinent parties, including tech and digital platforms, governments, electoral authorities, conventional media, and voters. Let’s look into this issue deeper.
SAFEGUARDING DEMOCRACY IN DIGITAL AGE
With more than four billion voters anticipated to participate in more than 60 elections, 2024 has been called the "year of elections." Rather than being a reason for democratic celebration, the threat of democratic vulnerability and decline is receiving a lot of attention. Due to the widespread use of social media and the development of artificial intelligence (AI), there are now additional threats to election integrity, such as deepfake videos, misinformation campaigns, technology-enabled violence against female candidates, and voter micro targeting through data exploitation. According to the World Economic Forum, the largest global risk for the next two years is misinformation and disinformation, which is partly caused by the usage of unaccountable AI tools and platforms. Transparency, engagement, inclusion, and accountability—values of open government—are more crucial than ever in light of these challenges to the integrity of government and elections. This year, around 35 OGP countries will be holding municipal or national elections, and here are some ways to tackle digital threats to democracy.
Many nations have solely focused on combating misinformation prior to elections, but this short-term strategy renders the task nearly unachievable. Finland, among other nations that have taken a more comprehensive approach, has created media literacy curricula that assist pupils in recognizing and differentiating between false, misleading, and malicious information. Armenia pledged to fortify its public communication framework, encompassing proactive outreach to the public regarding its undertakings, devising countermeasures to impede the dissemination of false information, and enhancing its institutional capability to foster public engagement. In order to maintain a healthy information ecosystem, communicate with the public proactively, and enforce regulations when necessary to safeguard democracy, governments play a crucial role. In order to pre-bunker, de-bunker, track misinformation, and improve media literacy, civil society is essential. Given this, France promised to monitor and combat misinformation through a multi-stakeholder strategy that includes academic institutes and civil society. Democracies cannot function without free speech and dissent, and restrictions on these rights must never be justified by political motivations or the need to combat misinformation. Disinformation laws must be clearly defined, and the authorities enforcing them must be impartial and independent. Ghana has pledged to apply a human rights evaluation to its legal framework as part of larger initiatives to combat misinformation in order to make sure that it does not restrict free speech.
Election integrity is monitored and upheld in large part by electoral authorities. Information commissioners who are mandated and well-resourced can aid in preventing the improper use of citizen data for political campaign targeting. The General Election Supervisory Agency of Indonesia committed to putting in place an election monitoring and supervisory system in collaboration with civil society organizations and the general public in the country's most current OGP action plan. As of the writing of this essay, Indonesia is just a few days away from its general elections, and social media sites like TikTok have become important arenas for political campaigning. Governments may guarantee that the public receives reliable and high-quality information by supporting the development of a robust local and national journalism scene and contributing to a healthy media ecosystem. In order to combat misinformation, Canada committed to a number of initiatives, such as investigating novel avenues for philanthropic and private funding of reliable, expert, nonprofit journalism and local news, as well as encouraging the employment of journalists to cover underprivileged areas across the nation. The United States' executive order on artificial intelligence, the European Union's frameworks, and the UNESCO guidelines are just a few examples of policy initiatives that draw from lengthy discussions about social media platforms' accountability and transparency, particularly with regard to data privacy, content moderation, and safety. Transparency reports on content moderation, as provided by the Digital Services Act and the EU's code of practice on disinformation, showed progress. Digital policy analysts have called attention to the under funding of platforms that attempt to address the problem of disinformation, particularly in non-English speaking markets (many of whom are holding elections this year). Although the EU AI Act and Meta's announcement regarding the labeling of AI-generated images are positive developments, digital policy experts have pointed out (see examples here, here, and here) that these developments fall short of adequately protecting the rights of the most vulnerable or targeted groups.
CONCLUSION
Preserving democratic ideals on the internet will be essential to stopping global democratic backsliding and maintaining free and open societies at a time when democracy is confronting some of its most difficult challenges since the end of the Cold War. Governments, businesses, and civil society organizations are recognizing the urgency of taking action and are making great progress in that direction. Globally, there is a growing movement to promote democratic values in digital environments. In order to create a more democratic online ecosystem, resolutions like the Copenhagen Pledge for Tech Democracy set forth specific objectives for action and bring together important players and pertinent specialists. The topic of digital governance was a major agenda item at the 2021 Summit for Democracy. Building on this momentum, international institutions with the power to unite states in the creation of global frameworks for policy that protect and enforce democratic ideals in the digital environment include the UN and OECD. It will be vital to increase these kinds of coordinated efforts to defend democratic ideals and human rights both offline and online, given the growing threats to democracy around the world.