SEE THE WEBINAR HERE!How can we make sure elections in the UK are free and fair in the digital
age? Unaccountable organisations use information about voters’ private lives to
target them with messages. Fake 'bots' sow discord on comment pages. As the
recent US election showed, it is harder and harder to police misleading fake
news and disinformation. And in a digital age, tracking which party is spending
what on campaigning becomes ever more complicated. In this webinar we draw on
the expertise of academics, regulators and politicians to evaluate concrete
proposals for achievable reform. Whether you are student of politics or
interested citizen, this webinar contributes to the important work of trying to
find a way to safeguard democracy.
Chair:
Dr Katharine Dommett is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of
Sheffield. Her research focuses on digital campaigning and the role of
technology in democracies. She serves as Special Advisor to the House of Lords
Select Committee on Democracy and Digital Technologies.
Speakers/panellists:
Professor Helen Margetts OBE FBA. Professor Helen Margetts is Professor of
Society and the Internet and Professorial Fellow at Mansfield College. She is
also Director of the Public Policy Programme at The Alan Turing Institute, the
UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence.
Louise Edwards is Director of Regulation at the Electoral Commission, the
main body charged with overseeing elections. She has expert knowledge of
funding and spending at elections and referendums, registering political
parties and enforcement work.
Damian Collins MP. As Chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select
Committee in 2017 he published one of the most authoritative reports on
disinformation and fake news to date, making detailed recommendations for
reform of electoral campaigning.
SEE THE WEBINAR HERE!