Since the end of 2024, YouTube has been offering a new feature that automatically translates and dubs videos using artificial intelligence. With a single click, this innovation makes videos accessible to millions of English-language viewers. But in election season, the technology also raises questions: who decides whether party politics should suddenly be presented in another…
Digital engineering creates not just far-right voters; it manufactures far-right candidates. Does the EU have the courage to take and enforce adequate structural measures to defend democracy against the weaponisation of digital platforms? How many dominoes can the EU afford to fall? by Martin Gak Defend Democracy is publishing a new analysis in the wake…
Today, 23 April 2025, the European Commission fined Meta and Apple for breaching EU law. After months of investigation and fruitless dialogue, the tech firms now have 60 days to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Defend Democracy comments: “It is great that the European Union is leading the governance of digital technologies and…
Today, Defend Democracy co-organised the first in a series of ‘HandsOFF Our Democracy‘ protests. Our founder and executive director gave the following speech. A few months before I launched Defend Democracy*, just 50 meters from here we organised a peaceful protest in solidarity with the American ‘March for Truth’. That was in June 2017. We…
An umbrella does not shield against flooding. For the European Democracy Shield to do what it says, it must encompass the full spectrum of hybrid threats, not only foreign disinformation. Like any shield, it is only as strong as its bearer. If it is to be more than a fig leaf, our work to defend…
Humans will soon be a minority on the internet. What does it mean for our democracy? By Chris Kremidas-Courtney, Senior Advisor, Defend Democracy According to the just-released 2024 Imperva Bad Bot Report, automated bots were found to be responsible for 49.6% of all internet traffic. Over half of these were classified as “bad bots.” In…
In her bid for a second mandate as President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen vows to ‘defend democracy from those who seek to destroy it’. This is music to Defend Democracy‘s ears. Assuming Von der Leyen is not making an empty election promise, we have some concrete suggestions for how her next…
The age of artificial intelligence (AI) is not just approaching, it’s already upon us. It will transform our lives and challenge our values, laws, and social norms. We need a new social contract for the age of AI. Chris Kremidas-Courtney, Senior Advisor, Defend Democracy Joe Litobarski, PhD Researcher in the History of Technology & Democracy,…
The EU’s AI Act could be the start of a new era of human-centred technology development or wind up as a cynical watered-down document that forfeits European values in an ill-advised attempt to gain a competitive edge. The choice between these two futures is being made right now as EU member states negotiate the final…
Foreign interference in democratic processes is part of a much larger toolbox used by authoritarian state actors, whether you call that toolbox political warfare, active measures or hybrid threats. Therefore, rather than taking a narrow view of foreign interference limited to elections, disinformation, political advertising, and funding of political parties, Defend Democracy urges the European…
