Electoral and political processes at risk of digital interference?

Electoral and political processes at risk of digital interference?

During the 2016 US presidential election and the Brexit referendum in the UK that same year, a whistleblower alerted the world to the possibility of manipulating public opinion through social networks. While no scandal on the scale of Cambridge Analytica has come to light since, the dangers of disinformation, voter suppression, deepfakes, bots and other manipulation techniques continue to threaten democratic processes, whether perpetrated by foreign powers or domestic actors. 

Beyond the risks of interference as such, some people see digital technologies as intrinsically harmful to democratic quality and social cohesion. Moving away from this essentialisation of digital technology, we will discuss with our two guests to decipher the strategies played by stakeholders who use these technologies for manipulative purposes, and the geopolitical issues at stake, before looking at possible safeguards against these abuses.

With David Chavalarias, CNRS Research Director at the Centre d'analyse et de mathématiques sociales and Director of the Institut des systèmes complexes in Paris.

And

Henri Verdier, ambassador in charge of digital issues at the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs

Moderation: Valérie Peugeot, affiliated professor at Sciences Po, scientific advisor of the Digital and Public Policy stream at the School of public affairs 

This conference is organized within the Masterclass cycle of the "Digital and Public policy" stream of the School of Public Affairs, in collaboration with the Paris School of International Affairs and the Open Institute for Digital Transitions"