Once believed to hold the key to the expansion of global democracy, liberalism and a healthy civil society, the internet and digital technologies are now more often framed as threats to advanced and emerging democracies. Social media and other digital technology platforms appear to be contributing factors in global democratic decline.

The Digital Threats to Democracy Project aims to identify and examine intersecting digital threats to democracy, specifically across four key issues: online disinformation, online hate and extremism, tech-enabled foreign interference and regulation of the digital sphere.

As democracies grow more dependent on digital technology, this project seeks to better understand how vulnerabilities in current digital infrastructures have the potential to undermine democratic governance — whether through their design or business models or the way digital technologies are used by average citizens and adverse actors alike.

The Digital Threats to Democracy Project is supported by the New South Wales Department of Premier and Cabinet. The information, advice and/or views expressed in this project are those of the project author/s and participant/s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lowy Institute or the NSW government.

Digital Threats to Democracy Dialogue

October 2022

Report

Read the dialogue summary report

Keynotes

How to (Really) Lose the information War
Nina Jankowicz, the Vice President of the Centre for Information Resilience

Rethinking digital public infrastructure
Dr Joan Donovan, Research Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University