A survey in Europe found 83% of people believe democracy is threatened by fake news (European Commission 2018a:4) in Taiwan, 67.5% of people fear disinformation could cause “great harm” to the country’s democracy (Taiwan Foundation for Democracy 2019) and in the U.S., 68% of Americans identify “made-up news” as a significant threat to trust in government and a greater problem than terrorism, racism or climate change (Stocking 2019). Public opinion polls in many countries show that citizens fear that democracy is at risk. Social media companies are frequently seen as part of the problem: at Facebook’s annual shareholder meeting in 2018, a plane flew overhead with a banner reading “YOU BROKE DEMOCRACY” (Osnos 2018). 2016 election, at least 17 countries had elections marred by disinformation, “damaging citizens’ ability to choose their leaders based on factual news and authentic debate” (Freedom House 2017:1). Senator Chuck Schumer told Congress (2019:S2776). Russian interference in the election was “an attack on democracy itself,” U.S. Since the 2016 election in the United States, policymakers, experts and citizens have expressed alarm that online disinformation may threaten democracy. Online disinformation, democracy, election campaign, media law, Internet, policy-making Introduction The article also reveals some of the challenges and risks in these policy sectors, which can be seen in both innovative and failed policy designs. Policy responses to protect these goods tend to fall in three corresponding governance sectors: self-determination is the focus of international and national security policies accountable representation is addressed through electoral regulation and threats to the quality of public debate and deliberation are countered by media regulation. This article proposes that policies to address disinformation seek to defend three important normative goods of democratic systems: self-determination, accountable representation, and public deliberation. However, there is little clarity in elite policy debates or academic literature about what it actually means for disinformation to endanger democracy, and how different policies might protect it.
Governments have responded with a wide range of policies. 2016 election, there has been widespread concern that online disinformation poses a serious threat to democracy. Abstractįollowing public revelations of interference in the U.S. The paper also benefited from comments by participants in the Digital Threats to Democracy Threats to Democracy workshop, hosted by the Social Science Research Council in June, 2019.Ī revised version of this article is published in the International Journal for Press/Politics. Acknowledgments: Thank you to Jordan Buffie, Spencer McKay, Fenwick McKelvey, and Heidi Tworek, for engaging discussions as I developed this paper, and to Jordan Buffie for research assistance.
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