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Better Processes Lead to Better Outcomes: Corporate Governance as a Tool to Address Misinformation
By Nathalie Maréchal, Elizabeth Renieris, and Jan Rydzak, Ranking Digital Rights This is the second installment of a new white paper series on alternative regulatory responses to misinformation. The articles, which were produced with the editing and support of the WIII Initiative, will be presented at a series of events on March 8, 10, and 12th. You can find more information, and registration details for our launch events, here. I. Introduction The popularization of the internet has been a boon for journalists, activists, and individuals whose ability to access and impart information had been
Introducing: Tackling the “Fake” Without Harming the “News”
This is the first installment of a new white paper series on alternative regulatory responses to misinformation. The articles will be serialized through next week, and presented at a series of events on March 8, 10, and 12th. You can find more information, and registration details for our launch events, here. Over the past decade, optimism over the Internet’s potential as a force for democratization has given way to a more nuanced understanding of its disruptive impact. The decentralized nature of online discourse, which can circumvent traditional gatekeepers, has led to challenges in
Come Join Us! Yale/Wikimedia Fellowship Accepting Applications
The Wikimedia/Yale Law School Initiative on Intermediaries and Information (WIII) has two main aims: to raise awareness of threats to an open internet, especially those affecting online intermediaries and their users, and to make creative policy suggestions that protect and promote open access to information. WIII grew out of an ongoing academic collaboration between Yale Law School and the Wikimedia Foundation and is made possible by a generous gift from the Wikimedia Foundation. The Information Society Project (ISP) is an intellectual center at Yale Law School. It supports an
Moderate Globally Impact Locally: An internet with borders: A perspective from Pakistan
In Pakistan, social media has become an informational battleground for regional and domestic politics. We have seen foreign disinformation campaigns on Twitter, and heavy government pressure on platforms to adjust moderation policies to suit its own agenda. This has been backed by repressive new rules targeting speech, and even bans on platforms, restoring access to them only if they toe the line. There have even been instances where politicians, activists and journalists have found themselves subject to organized campaigns that flagged their social media activities for alleged breaches of the
Moderate Globally Impact Locally: The Countries Where Democracy Is Most Fragile Are Test Subjects for Platforms’ Content Moderation Policies
A bitterly contested election against a controversial and polarizing incumbent. Allegations of voter fraud, systemic disenfranchisement, and widespread concerns about the fairness of the process. And in the background, major social media platforms struggle to manage the public discourse, seeking to overcome a history of catastrophic failures. While this description may sound familiar to American audiences, it could just as easily refer to Myanmar’s recent election, which took place against a backdrop of online misinformation and hate. In both cases, it is too early to judge the success of the
Moderate Globally Impact Locally: Internet Content Moderation in Uganda – A Taxing Situation
As technology evolves, society is becoming increasingly interconnected. Some view this as a threat. Godfrey Mutabazi, formerly the Director of the Uganda Communications Commission, said at a digital regulation training that they have to “enforce discipline” among internet users to ensure that undesirable content is filtered out. In practical terms, this has meant instructing telecommunications service providers to enforce two social media shutdowns during the presidential elections in 2016 and in September 2017, and barring live broadcasts of parliamentary proceedings on amending the