In a new brief, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) outlines how the latest generation of technology-fueled disinformation campaigns is amplifying the scourge of hate speech and offers a framework for democracy and governance practitioners to consider when designing interventions to effectively counter these dual threats.
Political campaigns need to protect themselves from hacking and often don’t know where to start. The good news is that there are a few fundamentals that can dramatically reduce the likelihood and impact of cybersecurity incidents.
As we know, disinformation is a growing and critical threat to democracy worldwide. Disinformation is spreading more rapidly and widely, and is being used to distort political discourse, spread cynicism, and distrust in governing institutions, and interfere with citizens’ abilities to make informed political decisions.
For those directly involved in empowering journalists and student journalists, this handbook provides a framework for inquiry, and lessons to help navigate the increasingly murky information environment. It examines the deployment of ‘fake news’ as a term to discredit journalism, and sets out an alternative framework covering disinformation and misinformation, and (to a lesser extent) mal-information and emotive propaganda. The lessons are contextual, theoretical and in the case of digital verification, extremely practical.
The Democratic Principles for an Open Internet have been primarily designed for citizens and civil society organizations in fragile and emerging democracies, who are new to the digital rights space, are beginning to engage more regularly online, and who may be more likely to encounter deliberate internet disruptions as a result of government interference. We hope this guide will help activists working for democracy in an internet age and connect them in global peer networks to exchange best practices.
Political campaigns need to protect themselves from hacking and often don’t know where to start. The good news is that there are a few fundamentals that can dramatically reduce the likelihood and impact of cybersecurity incidents.
Las campañas políticas deben protegerse de la piratería informática, o hacking, y muchas veces no saben por dónde comenzar. La buena noticia es que hay algunos fundamentos que pueden reducir drásticamente la probabilidad y el impacto de incidentes de seguridad digital.
In November 2017, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs released “The Cybersecurity Campaign Playbook” for campaign professionals. In February 2018, it released a set of three U.S. elections playbooks designed to be used together by U.S.-based election administrators: “The State and Local Election Cybersecurity Playbook,” The Election Cyber Incident Communications Coordination Guide,” and “The Election Incident Communications Plan Template.”