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2018: Towards a Digital Democracy Opportunities and Challenges

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2018: Towards a Digital Democracy Opportunities and Challenges Towards a digital democracy Opportunities and challenges EPTA Report 2018 Towards a digital democracy Opportunities and challenges EPTA Report 2018 Compiled by Riccardo Molinari and Zsolt Pataki and edited by Theo Karapiperis, Scientific Foresight Unit (STOA). Brussels, European Parliament, 2018 © European Union, 2018 Table of contents 1. Topic of the EPTA Conference 2018 ....................................................................................... 2 2. Programme ................................................................................................................................. 7 3. National reports......................................................................................................................... 8 3.1 Austria .................................................................................................................................. 8 3.2 Catalonia - region of Spain .............................................................................................. 12 3.3 Denmark ............................................................................................................................. 15 3.4 Finland ................................................................................................................................ 18 3.5 France .................................................................................................................................. 24 3.6 Germany ............................................................................................................................. 27 3.7 Greece ................................................................................................................................. 32 3.8 Japan ................................................................................................................................... 35 3.9 Mexico ................................................................................................................................. 40 3.10 The Netherlands ................................................................................................................ 44 3.11 Norway ............................................................................................................................... 48 3.12 Poland ................................................................................................................................. 51 3.13 Portugal .............................................................................................................................. 55 3.14 Sweden ............................................................................................................................... 62 3.15 Switzerland ........................................................................................................................ 66 3.16 United Kingdom ............................................................................................................... 70 3.17 United States of America ................................................................................................. 75 3.18 STOA ................................................................................................................................... 79 4. About EPTA ............................................................................................................................. 85 5. About STOA ............................................................................................................................. 88 1. Topic of the EPTA Conference 2018 1.1. Towards a digital democracy - opportunities and challenges Topic and methodology STOA proposed and the EPTA Directors agreed, during their meeting of 30 May – 1 June 2018 in Strasbourg, that the annual EPTA Conference 2018, to be held this year under the 2018 STOA presidency in the morning of 4 December 2018, would focus on the topic of democracy in the era of artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and blockchain. EPTA Directors considered this topic to be appropriate for attracting the attention and interest of MEPs, stakeholders and the wider public. The working title of the event provided here is still subject to discussion. The conference, thematically linked to the STOA Annual Lecture 2018, will feature contributions from technical/scientific experts from the EPTA member organisations addressing the interplay between democracy, on the one hand, and artificial intelligence, blockchain and/or quantum technology, on the other. It will address the impact of current and expected developments in these new technology fields on democratic processes and institutions, and will examine this impact from multiple perspectives. The conference aims to foster debate on the opportunities and challenges arising from the new technologies in shaping the future of democracy in Europe and the world. It will encourage participating M (E) Ps and other policy-makers, experts and stakeholders, as well as interested citizens at large to consider desirable and adverse futures, and to discuss ways of exploiting the opportunities and confronting the challenges. Democracy and new technologies The debate on the impact of new technologies on democratic processes and institutions is relevant in the context of the so-called ‘post-truth society’, where objective facts seem to be less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. This is not only a challenge for scientists, experts and the media, but also for policy-makers and society as a whole. Science and technology are crucial to democracy and there is a clear need to create the conditions for a vigorous dialogue between scientists, politicians and the public. Such a dialogue, based on mutual respect and trust, could help all sides understand why and how scientific evidence plays its proper role as an essential part of policy-making. What are the main objectives of democracy? The answers to this question can vary. Some views of democracy put their main emphasis on a high degree of representativeness, others promote the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, and still others strive for inclusive and comprehensive involvement of the citizens. New technologies have the potential to substantially change the conditions of political communication and democratic practice. The numerous claims that have been made about effects of new technologies on democracy can be summarised as follows: New technologies increase the scale and speed of providing information. Does this help create better informed citizens? Political participation is made easier and certain obstacles, such as apathy, shyness, disabilities or lack of time, can be reduced; New technologies create new ways of engaging subject-specific groups in discussion; They also allow new political communities to arise free of state intervention; A hierarchical political system becomes more horizontal; 2 Citizens will have more voice in creating agendas for government; Politics will be able to respond more directly to citizens; New technologies will help resolve long-standing problems of representative democracy, such as the territorial base of constituencies. In contrast to these, mostly positive, visions of the effects of new technologies, there are also various dystopian visions, which depict potential risks to democracy: for example, they regard direct democracy as inadequate, given the complexity of modern societies; digital tools would speed up deliberation to a superficial level; they would support populism and increase information inequality, while being incapable of countering a basic lack of political motivation among the citizenry; new media would be more concentrated than traditional media and the ease of placing messages on the Internet would not be matched by similar options of being heard. Finally, a serious threat gaining attention in connection with recent dramatic events is the increased radicalisation and mobilisation potential of the Internet. One can legitimately raise a multitude of questions: Would it be reassuring to have private entities like Facebook making policy assessments instead of public authorities? Are the responses of public authorities to fake news inclusive and transparent? Do they lead to a better understanding of the impact of disinformation and propaganda on democracy, freedom of expression, journalism and civic space? What are the key opportunities and challenges facing all these technology-driven initiatives in Europe? How can we ensure that Member States and the Commission refrain from adopting unnecessary measures aimed at exerting control over digital technologies, i.e. blocking, filtering, jamming and closing down digital spaces or the de facto privatisation of control measures by pressuring intermediaries to take action to restrict or delete internet content? What kind of policies or safeguards are needed that could prevent such measures from being adopted by private operators? 1.2. Impact of new technologies Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as one of the most hotly debated technologies on the horizon. In some application areas AI is already here. This has prompted debates about what AI means for the future of humanity, which occasionally include extreme predictions on employment (such as a job-free society), and existential threats (such as a human-free earth). Most of the time, however, experts can imagine a range of possible outcomes of AI development, and are
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