Description: By the time the 2024 IGF convenes, voters will head to the polls in 60+ countries and the European Union, representing about 49% of the world’s population. Each election will play out in its own unique political, legislative, and technological context. Some countries may rely heavily on public broadcasting, while others rely on social influencers and communities for election information. Some countries may have rules in place to protect voters from harmful election fraud, while others may not, or to a lesser extent. There may be greater press freedoms in one country than in another. All these nuances mean that there is no panacea to combat misinformation during an election. Election Coalitions are a powerful tool for combating misinformation. By bringing together news organizations, fact checkers, and community groups from within, each Election Coalition can work to serve the voters in a way that meets their specific needs in the run-up to an election. Election coalitions increase public trust and safeguard fundamental democratic rights while enhancing digital contributions to peace, development, and sustainability. This panel will include experts in this field, including Alex Walden, Global Head of Human Rights at Google, who will set the stage about why Election Coalitions are needed to combat misinformation. Daniel Bramatti from Brazil and David Ajikobi from Nigeria will share insights and identify best practices from some of the most successful election coalitions from the past decade. Mevan Babakar, News and Information Credibility Lead at Google, will discuss a paper she has authored which studies the effectiveness of Elections Coalitions around the globe. We want this session to be interactive, so we are planning this as a roundtable and will reserve 45 minutes of our session for Q&A and discussion among our speakers and our audience participants, in person and remote.
Open Zoom
