Programs & Projects

Digital Threats to Democracy

Digital Threats to Democracy

Once believed to hold the key to the expansion of global democracy, liberalism and a healthy civil society, the internet and digital technologies are now more often framed as threats to advanced and emerging democracies. Social media and other digital technology platforms appear to be contributing factors in global democratic decline.

The Digital Threats to Democracy Project aims to identify and examine intersecting digital threats to democracy, specifically across four key issues: online disinformation, online hate and extremism, tech-enabled foreign interference and regulation of the digital sphere.

As democracies grow more dependent on digital technology, this project seeks to better understand how vulnerabilities in current digital infrastructures have the potential to undermine democratic governance — whether through their design or business models or the way digital technologies are used by average citizens and adverse actors alike.

The Digital Threats to Democracy Project is supported by the New South Wales Department of Premier and Cabinet. The information, advice and/or views expressed in this project are those of the project author/s and participant/s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lowy Institute or the NSW government.


Digital Threats to Democracy Dialogue

October 2022

Report

Read the dialogue summary report

Keynotes

How to (Really) Lose the information War
Nina Jankowicz, the Vice President of the Centre for Information Resilience

Rethinking digital public infrastructure
Dr Joan Donovan, Research Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University

Experts
Latest publications
News and media
Program Director, Transnational Challenges
X marks the spot where free speech comes at a cost
Commentary
X marks the spot where free speech comes at a cost
Originally published in The Age
Overcoming digital threats to democracy
Policy Briefs
Overcoming digital threats to democracy
Using deliberative democracy to enhance trust and legitimacy in digital spaces.    
How can we regulate AI? Let’s just ask it
How can we regulate AI? Let’s just ask it
In the span of a just a few months, ChatGPT, an advanced conversational artificial intelligence language model, has gained over 200 million users worldwide. The artificial…
Anti-Government Extremism in Australia: Understanding the Australian Anti-Lockdown Freedom Movement as a Complex Anti-Government Social Movement
Journal Articles
Anti-Government Extremism in Australia: Understanding the Australian Anti-Lockdown Freedom Movement as a Complex Anti-Government Social Movement
Journal article by Lydia Khalil and Joshua Roose for Perspectives on Terrorism, an initiative of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism
AI vs democracy: the battle is already here
AI vs democracy: the battle is already here
The race for Artificial Intelligence dominance is now on. And with the rise of AI has come dire warnings about its impact on governance and humanity at large. But the challenge…
Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism guest editorial
Journal Articles
Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism guest editorial
Special issue on violent extremist risk assessment, arising from a 2021 AVERT Research Network conference, including contributions from Adrian Cherney, Michele Grossman &…
Allies, algorithms and safety online
Allies, algorithms and safety online
Alan Turing’s pioneering work with algorithms in 1941 led to the cracking of the Nazi Enigma code, shortening the Second World War by years and saving millions of lives.  He…
Digital Threats to Democracy
Speeches
Digital Threats to Democracy
Watch keynote addresses from the Digital Threats to Democracy dialogue which was hosted by the Lowy Institute in October 2022.
The Saturday Paper
6 May 2024
Sydney Morning Herald and The Age: Please Explain
3 April 2023
ABC Radio National Big Ideas
6 December 2022
Inside Story
27 September 2022
ABC Radio National Drive
27 September 2022
The Australian Financial Review
26 August 2022
ABC Religion & Ethics
24 August 2022