Since 2017, the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) has partnered with Stand Together Trust to host experts from various sectors for an event examining the Future of Speech Online (FOSO). This gathering includes leaders from government, civil society, industry, and academia to explore how free expression is influenced by technology. Against the backdrop of numerous global elections and the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), FOSO 2024 spotlighted "AI, Elections, & Speech." Leading voices on these issues participated in a two-day event on September 16 and 17 to discuss preserving free expression and protecting election integrity.
Keynote speaker Renee DiResta highlighted how a fragmented social media landscape and isolated information silos have fostered environments conducive to spreading rumors. She noted that echo chambers of misinformation could undermine election integrity but remained optimistic about society's ability to create systems that preserve democracy and support free speech.
The first panel, titled "What’s At Stake?" featured CDT’s Kate Ruane and Tim Harper, Factchequeado’s Laura Zommer, Dangerous Speech Project’s Cath Buerger, and The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights’ David Toomey. Harper expressed concerns about AI's potential to hypertarget individuals with misleading information. He cited CDT’s new report showing how AI chatbots could impact voting rights and election integrity for voters with disabilities. Zommer observed that these trends are occurring globally. The panelists discussed efforts like counterspeech, fact-checking, and reporting misinformation as ways to improve the information environment.
A fireside chat moderated by CDT CEO Alexandra Reeve Givens concluded FOSO's first day. Meta’s Roy Austin and Microsoft’s Ginny Badanes addressed anticipated harms from AI-generated deepfakes on elections but also noted benefits of AI in content moderation at scale. They suggested watermarking and labeling AI-generated content as potential solutions to combat deepfakes.
On the second day of FOSO, discussions continued around the infrastructure of the information ecosystem. Internet Sans Frontières’ Julie Owono, WITNESS’s Sam Gregory, and Wikimedia Foundation’s Costanza Sciubba Caniglia participated in “Infrastructure of Truth,” moderated by National Press Club’s Beth Francesco. Gregory called for a shift towards building systems addressing content moderation at scale while Owono emphasized building societal trust in large-scale content moderation systems rather than ensuring every piece of content is accurate.
The next panel focused on recent Supreme Court case decisions in Murthy v. Missouri and Netchoice v. Paxton under the title “Free Speech on the Ballot.” CDT’s Becca Branum led a discussion with Knight First Amendment Institute’s Alex Abdo, Lawyers’ Committee’s David Brody, and National Coalition Against Censorship’s Lee Rowland about how these decisions left many questions unanswered regarding government approaches to speech on private platforms.
The concluding panel titled “Post Mortems: Researcher Access to Data and Oversight Mechanisms to Study the Election” addressed ethics around data access essential for preserving election integrity. Panelists included Rebekah Tromble and Brandon Silverman from George Washington University’s Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics; Atlantic Council's Rose Jackson; and Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression's Agustina Del Campo. They cited Meta's decision to shutter CrowdTangle as an example impacting civil society's ability to monitor elections both domestically and internationally.
This year’s FOSO event provided a forum discussing emerging problems along with potential solutions crucial for democracy's future challenges such as greater access collaboration clearer policies among others were discussed paths forward arising conversations As sociotechnical landscape continues evolve work remains preserve democratic values protect civil liberties DiResta stated keynote address "We are not passive observers," she asserted "The power shape our future hands"
Missed the event? Links stream FOSO 2024 below.
Day 1 Recording
Day 2 Recording
