digital public sphere

Reflections from Civitates and the European AI Fund ecosystem building workshop

In the battle to shape digital technologies so that they serve the public interest, civil society is up against the vast resources and influence of the tech industry. That’s a daunting challenge for a sector that’s still small and emergent and to meet it, civil society needs to collaborate. That’s why last November, Civitates and the European AI Fund brought together 40 people from their grantees that work on different aspects of digital and tech policy to foster connections and identify the best ways to support each other.

Civitates grantee partners team up to study political advertising during the Hungarian elections

Civitates’ grantee partners the Civil Liberties Union for Europe, Who Targets Me and 444’s fact-checking platform Lakmusz.hu collaborated on research around the Hungarian elections in April 2022. They examined how Hungarian political parties targeted audiences with tailored political ads on Facebook during the campaign period leading up to the elections.

Platforms’ algorithms and recommender systems are dangerous for democracy

For citizens to participate fully in democratic processes, they need to be able to make informed decisions. In the last decades, the internet made information more accessible than ever. Paradoxically, however, we seem to be getting less and less information of public interest while being shut in online eco-chambers that reinforce our views and prevent us from holding healthy and fruitful dialogues.

Biometric mass surveillance, civic space, and democracy: why and how civil society should mobilise

While often the arguments such as the efficiency of public administrations or public safety are used to justify the implementation of certain systems or technologies, there is also a lack of transparency and accountability that are essential elements of any democratic system. This

Beyond the technical: Why the DSA matters for Democracy

The European Partnership for Democracy, a Civitates grantee partner and an organisation with a global remit to support democracy recently published an article explaining the importance of the Digital Services Act for Democracy in Europe and potentially beyond.