IGF 2023 Town Hall #117 Protect people and elections, not Big Tech!

In 2024, more than 2 billion people will be entitled to vote as over 70 countries go to the polls, in the biggest and most significant year for elections globally this century. This will include some of the world’s largest democracies like the United States, the European Union, India, Mexico, and Indonesia, as well as countries facing issues related to active democratic decline, conflict and even active oppression of citizens’ freedoms. In this context, the relentless spread of disinformation, hate speech, abuse and manipulation threatens to undermine efforts to advance democracy and freedoms and raises concerns for the broader Internet governance community. The newly formed Global Coalition for Tech Justice is convening an open conversation about the relevance of protecting people and elections, as well as the relevance of safe and responsible social media and messaging apps. During this session, we aim to bring together leaders in the fields of social media accountability, human rights, the broader Internet Governance Community, as well as social media companies and policy makers to explore joint efforts to influence policies and resourcing of election-related safeguards. In terms of session organisation, our main goals are the following: 1. Discuss social media companies’ responsibilities and the specific risks they pose to the public information space and election integrity. The convenor of the Global Coalition for Tech Justice, Digital Action, will give an introduction to the debate. 2. Spark a discussion on how we can collectively ensure Big Tech plays its part in protecting democracy and human rights during 2024 elections. 3. Present the "Protect people and elections, not Big Tech" Campaign, as well as the Global Coalition for Tech Justice as a newly formed global movement to ensure Big Tech plays its role in protecting elections and citizens’ rights and freedoms across the world. 4. Gather input for collective action moving forward. Here the focus will be on allowing for the voices and expertise of global majority civil society organisations to lead the global conversation.

We aim promote hybrid participation by: (i) alternating questions between online and on-site audience; (ii) using a jamboard with a group of questions to the participants online and onsite and in order to gather inputs; (iii) actively invite some people interested in the thematic to participate online; (iv) giving an active role for the online moderator, who will also be a part of presenting the speakers and commenting on presentations.