Governance Innovation for a Connected World Protecting Free Expression, Diversity and Civic Engagement in the Global Digital Ecosystem
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Global Digital Policy Incubator Governance Innovation for a Connected World Protecting Free Expression, Diversity and Civic Engagement in the Global Digital Ecosystem SPECIAL REPORT 67 Erb Street West Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 6C2 www.cigionline.org @cigionline Governance Innovation for a Connected World Protecting Free Expression, Diversity and Civic Engagement in the Global Digital Ecosystem SPECIAL REPORT Edited by Eileen Donahoe and Fen Osler Hampson Global Digital Policy Incubator CIGI Masthead GDPi Masthead Executive GDPi Senior Leadership President Rohinton P. Medhora Executive Director Eileen Donahoe Deputy Director, International Intellectual Property Law and Innovation Bassem Awad Principal Investigator Larry Diamond Chief Financial Officer and Director of Operations Shelley Boettger Director of the Global Economy Program Robert Fay Research and Program Staff Director of the International Law Research Program Oonagh Fitzgerald Director of the Global Security & Politics Program Fen Osler Hampson Associate Director for Research Megan Metzger Director of Human Resources Laura Kacur Associate Director for Programs Jan Rydzak Deputy Director, International Environmental Law Silvia Maciunas Research Associate and Project Leader, Human Rights Roya Pakzad Deputy Director, International Economic Law Hugo Perezcano Díaz Program Associate Sarahi Zaldumbide Director, Evaluation and Partnerships Erica Shaw Managing Director and General Counsel Aaron Shull For media enquiries, please contact [email protected]. Director of Communications and Digital Media Spencer Tripp @stanford_GDPi Publications Publisher Carol Bonnett Senior Publications Editor Jennifer Goyder Publications Editor Susan Bubak Publications Editor Patricia Holmes Publications Editor Nicole Langlois Publications Editor Lynn Schellenberg Graphic Designer Melodie Wakefield For publications enquiries, please contact [email protected]. Communications For media enquiries, please contact [email protected]. @cigionline Copyright © 2018 by the Centre for International Governance Innovation The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Centre for International Governance Innovation or its Board of Directors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution — Non-commercial — No Derivatives License. To view this license, visit (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). For re-use or distribution, please include this copyright notice. Printed in Canada on paper containing 100% post-consumer fibre and certified by the Forest Stewardship Council® and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Centre for International Governance Innovation and CIGI are registered trademarks. 67 Erb Street West Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 6C2 www.cigionline.org Contents vii Acronyms and Abbreviations 37 Private Sector Roles and Responsibilities: 1 Introduction Protecting Quality of Discourse, Diversity of Eileen Donahoe and Fen Osler Hampson Content and Civic Engagement on Digital Platforms and Social Media 5 Overview of the Challenges Posed by Rebecca MacKinnon and Roya Pakzad Internet Platforms: Who Should Address Them and How? 45 Multi-stakeholder Governance Innovations Bill Graham and Stephanie MacLellan to Protect Free Expression, Diversity and Civility Online 21 Protecting Free Expression, Access to Lawrence E. Strickling and Jonah Force Hill Diverse Information and Democratic Engagement Online: Conceptual and 53 About CIGI/ À propos du CIGI Practical Challenges 53 About GDPi Suzanne Nossel and Viktorya Vilk 29 Are Recent Governmental Initiatives to Combat Online Hate Speech, Extremism and Fraudulent News Consistent with the International Human Rights Law Regime? Evelyn Mary Aswad Acronyms and Abbreviations AfD Alternative for Germany ISP internet service provider API application program interface NetzDG German Network Enforcement Act CEO chief executive officer NTIA National Telecommunications and Information Administration CRTC Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ECHR European Convention on Human Rights OSCE Organization for Security and FCC Federal Communications Commission Co-operation in Europe FTC Federal Trade Commission RDR Ranking Digital Rights GCIG Global Commission on TCP/IP transmission control protocol/ Internet Governance internet protocol GDPi Global Digital Policy Incubator UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific GDPR General Data Protection Regulation and Cultural Organization GNI Global Network Initiative VPN virtual private network IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights IETF Internet Engineering Task Force IGF Internet Governance Forum ISOC Internet Society v Introduction Eileen Donahoe and Fen Osler Hampson The emergence of a global digital ecosystem has been a It is easy to say that governments should step in to boon for global communication and the democratization control this space and prevent further harms, but part of the means of distributing information. The internet, of what helped the internet grow and thrive was its and the social media platforms and web applications lack of heavy regulation, which encouraged openness running on it, have been used to mobilize pro-democracy and innovation. However, the absence of oversight protests and give members of marginalized communities has allowed dysfunction to spread, as malign actors a chance to share their voices with the world. manipulate digital technology for their own ends without fear of the consequences. It has also allowed However, more recently, we have also seen this unprecedented power to be concentrated in the hands technology used to spread propaganda and of private technology companies, and these giants misinformation, interfere in election campaigns, to act as de facto regulators with little meaningful expose individuals to harassment and abuse, and stir accountability. up confusion, animosity and sometimes violence in societies. Even seemingly innocuous digital technologies, So, who should be in charge of reversing the troubling such as ranking algorithms on entertainment websites, developments in our global digital spaces? And what, can have the effect of stifling diversity by failing to if anything, can be done to let society keep reaping reliably promote content from underrepresented groups. the benefits of these technologies, while protecting it At times, it can seem as if technologies that were against the risks? intended to help people learn and communicate have been irreparably corrupted. 1 Governance Innovation for a Connected World: Protecting Free Expression, Diversity and Civic Engagement in the Global Digital Ecosystem These questions were at the root of an international is “an open, thorough and ongoing dialogue...among working meeting organized by the Global Digital governments, civil society, international organizations Policy Incubator (GDPi) at Stanford University and and companies to ascertain the nature/scope of the the Centre for International Governance Innovation underlying problems that governments are trying to (CIGI), in cooperation with the Department of address and to assess properly the range of potential Canadian Heritage. “Governance Innovation for solutions short of broad governmental speech bans a Connected World: Protecting Free Expression, enforced by private companies.” Diversity and Civic Engagement in the Global Digital Ecosystem” was held at Stanford in March 2018. It The private sector’s role in preserving a healthy brought together representatives from government, and diverse online environment is discussed by academia, technology companies and civil society Rebecca MacKinnon and Roya Pakzad in their essay, to discuss potential governance options to deal with “Private Sector Roles and Responsibilities: Protecting these complex global challenges. The participants Quality of Discourse, Diversity of Content and Civic discussed governance policies rooted in private sector, Engagement on Digital Platforms and Social Media.” government and multi-stakeholder approaches. MacKinnon and Pakzad note that the major tech companies have already taken steps to curb harmful The essays that comprise this special report helped speech and misinformation on their platforms, such inform the conversations that took place. as improving content moderation; using automation and machine learning to detect fake accounts and Suzanne Nossel and Viktorya Vilk of PEN America violent content; and partnering with independent delve further into the topic of freedom of expression fact-checkers. However, a number of gaps remain, in their essay, “Protecting Free Expression, Access to including insufficient information about the volume Diverse Information and Democratic Engagement and the nature of the content they remove for violating Online.” The very nature of the internet — which their terms of service; a lack of transparency around enables communications to move farther, faster and how they use and share information about their users; at greater volumes — has “profound implications for and inadequate grievance and remedy mechanisms for free expression and open discourse,” they write. It has people who feel their content was unfairly censored. opened the door to new forms of state surveillance and Addressing these gaps would be a good starting place censorship, while also giving