IGF 2023 Town Hall #128 The International Observatory on Information and Democracy

The international Observatory on Information and Democracy is the missing part of an international architecture meant to solve the current information chaos and the democratic crisis in the information space. 

Democratic principles and public debate are suffering from threats caused by the of structuring tech corporations. The lack of a clear and shared understanding and the complexity of challenges hampers the ability of democratic States to tackle them. 

The Observatory, hosted by the Forum on Information and Democracy, will allow democracies to benefit from a clear and common vision of the structure of the information and communication space and its impact on democracy and the public debate. 

Created in 2019, the Forum on Information and Democracy is the implementing entity of the Partnership for Information and Democracy. Founded by 11 civil society and research organisations, the Forum aims to provide democratic guarantees in the digital space. Its mandat includes evaluating the means, standards and architecture of the information space. It develops policy frameworks for regulation and self-regulation to ensure democratic standards in the digital era.

The main mission of the Observatory will be to provide States and society as a whole with periodic evaluations of the information and communication space. It will be an IPCC-like entity for the information space. 

The aim of this session is to officially launch the first research cycle of the International Observatory on Information and Democracy with the announcement of the priority themes for the inaugural report to be published by late 2024. Guest speakers include members of the Observatory's Steering Committee, who will discuss from AI, Media to disinformation, how the Observatory's meta research can contribute to moving the policy needle, before holding a roundtable with participants on how different sectors can contribute to the evaluation of the information space and its impact on democracy. 

Key Takeaways:

• The International Observatory on Information and Democracy officially launched its first working cycle. An interactive panel discussion featuring members of the Steering Committee unveiled the priority themes for the Observatory’s inaugural work: AI, media in the digital age, and data governance. Expected in late 2024, this first report will provide a comprehensive synthesis of international academic research addressing critical questions at the nexus of information and democracy. This much anticipated work fills a critical gap in the global policy architecture by providing a common understanding of the state-of-art research and evidence that exists around the impact of technology on our democracies and information ecosystem.
• Five members of the Steering Committee explained the priority themes and highlighted the relevance of the Observatory's work in their region and exchanged views on the priority themes. Jhalak Kakkar (India) Executive Director, Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University Delhi, shared her view on the aspects/angles most pressing and urgent to address with regard to the South Asian context. Courtney Radsch (USA) Director of the Center for Journalism and Liberty at the Open Markets Institute discussed the most important cross-cutting issues and methodological considerations to be addressed by the Observatory in her view. Jeanette Hofmann (Germany) Research Director at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, spoke about high quality journalism and disinformation. Ansgar Koene (Belgium) Global AI Ethics and Regulatory Leader at EY, underlined the importance of collecting research and finally Nnenna Nwakanma (Côte d’Ivoire) Digital Policy, Advocacy and Cooperation Strategist and former Web Chief Advocate at the Web Foundation, addressed the regulation of the online space in a context of evidence scarcity in different regions. The panelists then exchanged views on how different sectors can contribute to the evaluation of the information space and its impact on democracy. They also discussed the OID’s contribution to the work of different stakeholders involved in evidencing and finding solutions to the information chaos and how the OID’s meta research production can help inform policy decisions within both the public and private sector.

Calls to Action

• Courtney stressed the essential need to learn from the evidence it has been collected, especially on the ground, and how it impacts different regions. She emphasized how the majority of research is from the global north, therefore there is a lack of knowledge on how technology and policies often developed in the EU and US have an impact in shaping the information ecosystem and the political economy around the world. What is needed is a comprehensive understanding of what is known and where the holes are in these topics. Jhalak also shared her aspirations for the Observatory to be able to spotlight approaches from other countries and reach a global overarching view of different experts coming together. In this regard, Nnenna visioned a report that would go beyond the big headlines and look at the nuances, across political differences and continents. She also underlined the importance to respond to needs, no need to build brides in the desert.
• Nnenna expressed the need to understand before regulating. She underlined the panic wave that is currently moving the production of regulations, focusing on coming up with solutions rapidly instead of understanding the matter first. Ansgar echoed Nnenna and underlined the need to check if the tools we have are implemented correctly. He stressed a meta study approach, as the one the Observatory will take, is going to help achieve the desired outcome of the policies we are producing. In this regard, Jeanette affirmed the need to stop chasing new regulations every year but ground our work on previous research. She agreed with Angsar and shared her hopes that a meta study will encourage comparative work.