Our Mission & Story

Our mission is to ensure that information technology and social media play a proactive role in supporting democracy and human rights globally.

As a community we create programs, training, and dialogue that promote the safe and responsible use of technology to advance open, democratic politics and accountable, transparent governments. We work together to take action to counteract challenges to democracy that emerge from new technologies.

We recognize the diversity of cultural and political contexts in which technology platforms operate and advance solutions that are designed with the active partnership of the communities who are impacted by particular technology.


Collaboration


While working on issues of technology and democracy, we kept hearing the same thing from our partners around the world: we need to coordinate our work better and to create a pathway to the tech companies.

Technology designed in Silicon Valley can often be blind to the on-the-ground impacts—both positive and negative—it has around the world. We wanted to fix that.

Together the core partners formed the Design 4 Democracy Coalition to bring the voices of our members to our tech partners. Serving as a conduit, the D4D Coalition acts as a coordination mechanism between members to ensure that tech companies are responsive to the challenges facing democracies and ensure their products are a net-positive for democracies around the world.

Since the formation of the Coalition in 2018, we have held numerous trainings around the world, working with our members to share knowledge about cybersecurity, disinformation, and electoral integrity. We have shared resources and created toolkits on open internet issues, hate speech monitoring, and journalism training. Together with our members, we have voiced concerns about tech policies, sought clarity around content moderation issues, and requested changes to tech products.

Now we are gathering more insights and knowledge from around the globe to continue to bring technology into alignment with democracy. If your organization wants to be a part of this mission, please find out more here.