Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) CEO Alexandra Reeve Givens called on Big Tech to increase their online election censorship efforts at the World Economic Forum’s Davos conference on Tuesday.
In particular, Givens highlighted what she believes is the “duty” of search engines and social media platforms to boost information from “trusted” sources during the panel on “Protecting Democracy against Bots and Plots.” Givens expressed concerns over multiple platforms downsizing personnel dedicated to content moderation and the scrutiny that “misinformation” research currently faces. (RELATED: ‘Blatant Targeting’: European Law Threatens Americans’ Free Speech Online, Experts Warn)
“We’re in this bizarre environment where right as the threats are ticking up, the investments in actually doing the day-to-day work of online trust and safety for our information environment is being scaled back and is under attack,” Givens stated. “We have to have the social media companies keep up the work.”
Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Twitter — now X — all laid off trust and safety workers in 2023, according to Wired.
“Is there a way to force them to do that?” Foreign Policy magazine Editor-in-Chief Ravi Agrawal asked Givens. “Push them to do that.”
“You get them to places like Davos, and you have them talk about the work,” Givens responded, laughing. “The staffing and decisions of companies, making sure they’re putting in those investments, making sure that they’re sharing information, that they’re doing it not just for the U.S. election but for the other elections around the world. That has to stay a key focus. Even if there is political pressure.”
Givens spoke about measures social media platforms have taken, such as monitoring so-called misinformation and disinformation, asking users if they have read an article before they share it and fact-checking.
“We have to make sure that those interventions are still in place this year as a bare minimum,” she said.
The CDT pointed the Daily Caller News Foundation to the end of the panel discussion where Givens says legislating censorship of “misinformation” is “dangerous territory” and noted the importance of “transparency” about content moderation decisions.
Big Tech companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok and WhatsApp have all supported CDT with over $100,000, according to its financials. Left-wing billionaires George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and Pierre Omidyar’s Omidyar Network and Democracy Fund also contributed over $100,000.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the left-wing Ford Foundation also gave over $500,000 according to CDT’s financials.
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