New Report Proposes "Digital Social Contract" To Combat Political Disinformation

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital disinformation poses a grave threat to our democracy and demands a new social contract between consumers and internet companies that is rooted in transparency, privacy and competition, according to a new report co-published by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and New America, the Washington, D.C.-based public policy think tank.

The report, titled "Digital Deceit II: A Policy Agenda to Fight Disinformation on the Internet," argues for the codification of a set of digital rights into public law, encompassing a set of regulations designed to advance democratic values and protect the public from disinformation while fostering open digital markets.

"The digital economy too often serves to enhance social division by feeding pre-existing biases, affirming false beliefs, and fragmenting media audiences," said Dr. Dipayan Ghosh, co-author of the report and Pozen Fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.  "We cannot expect digital media companies to regulate themselves.  The American electorate requires novel public policies to address the nature of the business model underlying the internet. Nothing short of the integrity of the American political system itself is at stake."

"The enormous power of digital technologies to reshape modern social, economic and political life has delivered unquestionable benefits to the public," noted Dr. Ben Scott, co-author of the report. "But the absence of clear laws to steer this transformation towards the common good leaves us vulnerable to exploitation and threatens to undermine the integrity of our democracy."

Dr. Ghosh previously worked on global privacy and public policy issues at Facebook, where he led strategic efforts to address privacy and security. Prior to his time at Facebook, Ghosh was a technology policy advisor at the White House during the Obama Administration. Dr. Scott coordinated technology policy for Secretary Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and, prior, served as a policy advisor in the State Department.

The report outlines a sweeping policy framework that would address the digital threat to democracy, focused on three key principles:

• Ad Transparency – As citizens, we have a right to know who is trying to influence our political views and how they are doing it. There must be explicit disclosure about the operation of such advertising and the content curation processes on dominant digital media platforms. We must have disclosure in the form of real-time and archived information about targeted political advertising, clear accountability for the social impact of automated decision-making, and explicit indicators for the presence of non-human accounts in digital media.
  
  
• Privacy – As individuals with the right to personal autonomy, we must be given more control over how our data is collected, used and monetized, particularly when it comes to sensitive information that shapes political decision-making. A baseline data privacy law must include consumer control over data through stronger rights to access and removal, transparency for the user of the full extent of data usage and meaningful consent, and stronger enforcement with resources and authority for agency rule-making.
  
  
• Competition – As consumers, we must have meaningful options to find, send and receive information over digital media. The rise of dominant digital platforms demonstrates how market structure influences social and political outcomes. A new competition policy agenda should include stronger oversight of mergers and acquisitions, antitrust reform and robust data portability and interoperability between services.

The full report is available online here. For further details, please contact the authors.

About the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy

The Shorenstein Center is a research center based at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, with a mission to study and analyze the power of media and technology and its impact on governance, public policy, and politics. Research, courses, fellowships, public events, and engagement with students, scholars, and journalists form the core of the Center. For more information, visit shorensteincenter.org.

About New America

New America is dedicated to renewing America by continuing the quest to realize our nation's highest ideals, honestly confronting the challenges caused by rapid technological and social change, and seizing the opportunities those changes create.

SOURCE Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy

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https://shorensteincenter.org/