Election Integrity Best Practices Guide Released
Discover more from Anchor Change with Katie Harbath
Election Integrity Best Practices Guide Released
Helping online platforms big and small with specific suggestions, examples, and best practices they can implement, regardless of size
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Picture it - Summer of 2020. I’m home alone during the pandemic and in the middle of trying to figure out what I wanted the next chapter of my career to be. I told Facebook I wanted to keep working on elections - in the United States and globally. I decided I was going to write up a proposal of what I wanted that work to look like and that it would be my focus through 2024 whether or not I stayed at the company. In August 2020, I wrote up my “2024 project” proposal, and in it, I said:
While many entities have been doing great work for many years to protect democracy, they are either focused on one country or a small subset of countries. None take a truly global lens in their projects to look at how we should solve these problems for established and emerging democracies. The 2024 Project aims to do just that by building a team of people and organizations who understand how to build solutions that will not only pass the United States Congress but apply globally. They will bring their expertise in political ads, building technology, establishing policies, and working at scale to develop a repertoire of thought leadership, resources, coalitions, training, and funding to work with civil society, governments, companies, and the media to tackle these problems.
Since then, I’ve tried to make this a reality through Anchor Change and work at the Bipartisan Policy Center, Integrity Institute, the International Republican Institute, and many other orgs.
I’m so excited to share today a huge milestone for this elections work - the part one launch of a guide with the Integrity Institute titled: “Elections integrity best practices: Responsibly supporting elections on online platforms,” that I authored along with Integrity Institute member Glenn Ellingson and many other Institute members.
The goal of this new guide is simple:
We want all online platforms, big and small, to understand best why it is important to have an elections integrity program, and
Regardless of size, give those companies specific suggestions, examples, and best practices they can implement.
Why are we doing this now? Because most folks are not aware (though if you are a regular reader of this newsletter, you know) that next year, for the first time ever, we will have a U.S. presidential election in the same year as elections in India, Indonesia, Ukraine, Taiwan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the European Parliament. Overall, there will be 65 elections across 54 countries coming in 2024. And here in the US, we have already kicked off the 2024 presidential cycle, with numerous candidates declaring they are running.
As we have seen in recent years, elections truly test a company's integrity tools. Elections also present real risks to online platforms, such as compliance, regulatory, legal liability, and reputational damage.
We also know elections bring with them bad actors looking to manipulate or interfere and elevated risk of real-world harm that is often fueled online.
Lastly, online platforms truly do have the potential to impact an election outcome through disinformation or voter suppression efforts.
Some of the Integrity Institute members have been working on these issues since the beginning and have had to build these teams, policies, and procedures. So, we pulled them together with outside groups and collaborators to create this guide to help companies capitalize on the success of that work and avoid some of the mistakes others have made in the past.
When it comes to online platforms and their role in elections, a key first step is understanding and mapping out how the platform could be used for politics. That includes user-generated content; political ads; direct messaging; fundraising; branded content; and others.
Another important step is an audit of available resources: what are the technical capabilities, company policies, language support, partnerships with third parties, NGOs, and governments, for example.
When developing these programs, size does matter. Different-sized companies have different levels of resources they can allocate to election work. And as you’ll see in the guide, we recognize this and don’t suggest every company implement the same measures.
I want to emphasize a point we make throughout the guide, and that is: companies are not on their own in this effort. We’ve seen great partnerships develop across the industry. And we also point out there is a key role for civil society and outside stakeholders, who can offer a wide array of support and expertise and serve as a force multiplier for this work.
We also very much had on top of mind the rapid development and deployment of AI tools. Every major online company has been using AI and machine learning for years. Still, we are seeing impressive technology that could be used in nefarious ways when it comes to elections, such as more use of deep fakes and impersonation of a candidate’s voice or likeness. We are certainly thinking about these issues at the institute and hope that we can serve as a resource for companies and media as they wrestle with these challenges.
I encourage you to check out the full guide. Glenn and I also recorded an episode of the Integrity Institute podcast Trust in Tech on the making of this document.
This is only the beginning of the work we are doing ahead of all the elections next year, and we welcome any and all feedback.
Also, a huge thank you to John Sands at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for providing the funding to do this!
What I’m Reading
Apolitical: Could ChatGPT Help Solve the Burnout Crisis in Government?
Global Cyber Strategies: Tackling Tech at the Upcoming G7
The New York Times: Ex-ByteDance Executive Accuses Company of ‘Lawlessness’
Reuters: Brazil Supreme Court Justice Orders Investigation into Google, Telegram Execs
Financial Times: US states’ social media laws to protect kids create challenges for platforms
Platform://Democracy: Perspectives on Platform Power, Public Values and the Potential of Social Media Councils
Bloomberg: Google Launching Tools to Identify Misleading AI Images
BBC News: Cambodia: Opposition Candlelight Party barred from July vote
Variety: Cord-Cutting Hits All-Time High in Q1, as U.S. Pay-TV Subscriptions Fall to Lowest Levels Since 1992
Bipartisan Policy Center: 'Succession' Highlights "Loaded Weapon" in Our Elections
UNC Center for Information, Technology and Public Life: Civic Information Handbook
Citizen Data: ChatGPT’s Impact on Democracy
Twitter: Update on actions in Turkey
Calendar
🚨 NEW 🚨
May 28, 2023 - Turkey election runoff
Topics to keep an eye on:
Facebook 2020 election research
TV shows about Facebook - Doomsday Machine and second season of Super Pumped
May 17, 2023 - House Judiciary Committee Hearing on AI and Intellectual Property
May 13 and 27, 2023 – Mauritania election
May 21, 2023 – Greece election
May 21, 2023 – Timor-Leste election
May 23, 2023 - Google Marketing Live (GML)
May 24-26, 2023 - Nobel Prize Summit: Truth, Trust and Hope
May 28, 2023 - Turkey election runoff
May 30, 2023 - Atlantic Council Report Launch: Telegram, WeChat and WhatsApp useage in the United States
May: EU-India Trade and Technology Council meeting in Brussels
June 4, 2023 – Guinea Bissau election
June 5-9 - RightsCon
June 5 - 9 - WWDC - Apple developer event
June 5, 2023 - The European Commission, European parliament and EU member states are due to agree a final definition for political advertising
June 11, 2023 – Montenegro election
June 19, 2023 - Meta response due on COVID misinfo
June 24 - June 30 - Aspen Ideas Festival
June 24, 2023 – Sierra Leone election
June 25, 2023 – Guatemala election
TBD June: DFR Lab 360/OS
July 11-13, 2023 - TrustCon
July 2023 – Sudan election (likely to have further changes due clashes erupted mid-April, despite temporary humanitarian ceasefire,)
July 23, 2023 – Cambodia election
July or August 2023 – Zimbabwe election
August 10 - 13, 2023 - Defcon
August-2023 – Eswatini election
August 2023 - First GOP Presidential Primary Debate
Mid-September: All Tech Is Human - Responsible Tech Summit NYC
September 27-29, 2023: Athens Democracy Forum
September 28-29, 2023 - Trust & Safety Research Conference
TBD September: Atlantic Festival
TBD September: Unfinished Live
September 2023 – Bhutan election
September 2023 – Tuvalu election
September 9, 2023 – Maldives election
September 30, 2023 – Slovakia election
September 2023 – Rwanda election
October 2023 – Oman election
October 2023 Poland election
October 8, 2023 – Pakistan election
October 10, 2023 – Liberia election
October 14, 2023 – New Zealand election
October 22, 2023 – Switzerland election
October 29, 2023 – Argentina election
October 2023 – Gabon election
October 2023 – Ukraine election
November 20, 2023 – Marshall Islands election
November 29, 2023 – Argentina election
December 20, 2023 – Democratic Republic of the Congo election
December 2023 –Togo election
2023 or 2024 – Peru election
TBD – Dominica election
TBD – Luxembourg election
TBD – Myanmar election
TBD – Spain election
TBD – Gabon election
TBD – Madagascar election
TBD – Haiti election
TBD – Libya election
TBD – Singapore election
2024
January 2024 – Bangladesh election
January 2024 – Finland election
January 13, 2024 – Taiwan election
February 4, 2024 – El Salvador election
February 4, 2024 – Mali election
February 14, 2024 – Indonesia election
February 25, 2024 – Senegal election
February 25, 2024 – Belarus election
March 17, 2024 – Russia election
March 31, 2024 – Ukraine election
April 10, 2024 – South Korea election
April 2024 – Solomon Islands election
April 2024 – Maldives election
May 5, 2024 – Panama election
May 19, 2024 – Dominican Republic election
June 2024 – Mongolia election
July 7, 2024 – Mexico election
July 15 - 18, 2024 - Republican National Convention
August 19 - 22, 2024 - Democratic Convention, Chicago
October 27, 2024 – Uruguay election
October 2024 – Mozambique election
October 2024 – Chad election
November 2024 – Guinea Bissau election
November 2024 – Moldova election
November 2024 – Romania election
November 5, 2024 – United States of America election
November 12, 2024 – Palau election
December 2024 – Croatia election
TBD – Algeria election
TBD – Austria election
TBD – Belgium election
TBD – Botswana election
TBD – Burkina Faso election
TBD – Chad election
TBD – Comoros election
TBD – Croatia election
TBD – Dominica election
TBD – Egypt election
TBD – Ethiopia election
TBD – Georgia election
TBD – Ghana election
TBD – Iceland election
TBD – India election
TBD – Iran election
TBD – Jordan election
TBD – Kiribati election
TBD – Kuwait election
TBD – Lithuania election
TBD – Madagascar election
TBD – Mauritania election
TBD – Mauritius election
TBD – Montenegro election
TBD – North Korea election
TBD – North Macedonia election
TBD – Romania election
TBD – Rwanda election
TBD – San Marino election
TBD – Slovakia election
TBD – South Africa election
TBD – South Sudan election
TBD – Syria election
TBD – Tunisia election
TBD – United States of America election
TBD – Uzbekistan election
TBD – Venezuela election