Was glad to have a chance to talk to the authors of this report. A very thorough analysis. What helps address digital threats in elections, is having the political will to meaningful tackle the polluted information space among the stakeholders influencing the on and offline discourse around elections. If you don't have the political will, then it's just check the box programming. Building that will by pulling in ordinary people to the conversation (i.e. more public opinion resources is needed, less social media monitoring, we know the main issues) is one method to get there.
Here's their four step summary of a sophisticated set of recommendations. I would amplify two points in here:
1. The need for baseline surveys. Not nearly enough public opinion research is done to engage the public on their attitudes and expectations of election information integrity vis-a-via social media -- of themselves, the political contestants, and government as oversight, etc. Most countries, especially in Africa, when surveyed, view US tech companies negatively, only interested in their profits and the cost of social cohesion.
2-The threats and responses are varied, and orgs cannot respond to them all. There are too many siloed orgs in this space rather than virtual war rooms and spending time on HOW TO WORK TOGETHER in order to have stronger and multilayered responses.
This is the methodology for countering disinformation I been part of testing in many parts of the world. This is not coalition building, this requires something different, which allows organizations to be strategic while not mandating them to have one common goal in mind for how they see the world, see elections and see the future of social media reform, and the role of politicians, but rather work to share information on what they do agree on - the need to have more credible information systems that are not manipulated by strong-arm governments, local bad faith actors (paid or for ideology), or be vectors for foreign influence on someone else's agenda.
Congrats Fennet Habte on this body of work and getting it out in the world to make it useable.
How can democracy defenders get better at safeguarding elections in the age of digital technology? For their recent study, GPPi’s Abi Watson and Fennet Habte drew insights from organizations doing just that across the African continent.
After speaking with over 100 experts and practitioners, Abi and Fennet identified four building blocks for success shared by initiatives that have managed to combat digital threats like disinformation campaigns and internet shutdowns. These good practices can be applied in programming wherever there is an election – and implemented with varying levels of funding.
Check out the building blocks below and read the full study (https://lnkd.in/dX_XFEuj) to see how they can look in practice.
Bonus: you’ll also get a look into scenario workshops organized by the research team, which projected how different digital threats could impact the upcoming elections in Ghana and Mozambique.