The WebRoots Democracy Podcast

Automated facial recognition, contact tracing apps, and digital identity initiatives are on the rise. Taking examples from the UK, EU, and Australia, our event with the Portal Collective explored the implications of these new technologies for migrants and people of colour. In particular, we looked at the ways in which these technologies risk perpetuating racist outcomes in society.

The event was chaired by writer and broadcaster, Yassmin Abdel-Magied from the Portal Collective. She was joined by Sarah Chander (European Digital Rights), Gracie Bradley (Liberty), Dhakshayini Sooriyakumaran (Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility), and Dr Angela Martinez Dy (Loughborough University London).

This discussion took place in July 2020.

Angela Rayner MP was elected Deputy Leader of the UK Labour Party in April 2020. We spoke with her a few weeks after her election about a range of topics including the COVID-19 pandemic, online disinformation, racism, mental health, and more.

This discussion took place in May 2020 and was chaired by Areeq Chowdhury (WebRoots Democracy). It was organised by The Concordia Forum as part of their 'Distant Socialising' series of events during Ramadan. The Concordia Forum is a global network of cross-sector leaders from Muslim backgrounds.

For the first time in its history, the UK Parliament has been embracing remote methods of working as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Select Committees, Prime Minister’s Questions, and, even, voting has been moved online despite historical resistance to modernisation within Parliament.

This event explored the creation and deployment of the so-called ‘Virtual Parliament’ with insights from Abena Oppong-Asare MP (Labour Party); Hannah Bardell MP (Scottish National Party); Naz Shah MP (Labour Party); Matt Stutely (Director of Software Engineering, Parliament Digital Service); Nikola Spicer (Head of Software Delivery, Parliament Digital Service); and Areeq Chowdhury (WebRoots Democracy).

This discussion took place in May 2020.

The rise of deepfakes (convincingly faked videos created using artificial intelligence) poses a significant challenge for democracies across the world. They can be used to intimidate activists, undermine elections, and cast doubt over genuine footage.

Broadcaster and author, Nina Schick, spoke with WebRoots Democracy director, Areeq Chowdhury, about her new book ‘Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse’. During this discussion, they delved deep into the technology and considered the potential impacts they may have for democracy, as well as society more widely.

This discussion took place in September 2020.

QAnon, suspicious dossiers, and dubious claims have all been key factors of the 2020 US Presidential election. Much like the 2016 election, this election has been dogged by attempts of online disinformation. The integrity of mail-in ballots have been questioned, rumours about Joe Biden’s son have gone viral, and the FBI have said that Russia and Iran have been targeting the election online. How significant was the role of disinformation in the election? What’s changed since 2016 and what can be learned for future?

We explored this with Carl Miller (Research Director, Centre for the Analysis of Social Media), Siddarth Venkataramakrishnan (European Technology Correspondent, Financial Times), Marianna Spring (Specialist Disinformation Reporter, BBC), Christine Jakobson (Tech Ethics Researcher, University of Cambridge), and Areeq Chowdhury (WebRoots Democracy).

This discussion took place during the WebRoots Democracy Festival in November 2020.

Islamophobia has been on the rise over the past 20 years and has become normalised across social media. Researchers have found that online Islamophobic abuse in the UK has been perpetuated by foreign disinformation actors as well as domestic citizens. Furthermore, this online hate can often translate into physical acts of harm offline.

We explored this and considered the potential solutions with Zahed Amanullah (Institute for Strategic Dialogue), Faima Bakar (award-winning journalist), Miqdaad Versi (Muslim Council of Britain), and Fahmida Rahman (WebRoots Democracy).

This discussion took place during the WebRoots Democracy Festival in November 2020.

The challenges with the big tech companies are well-documented. Disinformation, trolling, and taxation are all issues which policymakers have been rushing to grapple with in recent years. The global nature of the internet makes this a particularly difficult challenge and it is one which the UK Government is planning to overcome with its upcoming legislation on ‘online harms’. Does it go far enough or does it go too far?

We explored this with Darren Jones MP (Labour Party and Chair of the BEIS Select Committee), Dr Elinor Carmi (University of Liverpool), Alvin Carpio (Facebook You Owe Us), and Rachel Fielden (WebRoots Democracy).

This discussion took place during the WebRoots Democracy Festival in November 2020.

Young people are often the generation with the lowest levels of voter turnout, not just in the UK but across the world. At the same time, they are a generation which is increasingly political, using the internet to organise high profile campaigns on racial and environmental justice. How can we harness this energy to ensure that young people are having their voices heard at the ballot box?

We explored this question with Abena Oppong-Asare MP (Labour Party), Mete Coban MBE (My Life My Say), Rachael Farrington (Voting Counts), and Khadija Said (WebRoots Democracy).

This discussion took place during the WebRoots Democracy Festival in November 2020.

Is the global extraction of data and the online export of Western cultural values establishing a form of ‘digital colonialism’? A growing amount of research is being published on the concept with some arguing that the rise of big tech is exacerbating inequality between the Global North and the Global South.

Writer, author and broadcaster, Yassmin Abdel-Magied explored the concept with PhD researcher and former Editor of Media Diversified, Henna Zamurd-Butt.

This discussion took place during the WebRoots Democracy Festival in November 2020.

The increased use of live facial recognition surveillance by police forces across the UK has been the subject of heated discussion in recent years. Our report, ‘Unmasking Facial Recognition’, found that it is likely to exacerbate racist outcomes in policing and revealed that London’s Metropolitan Police failed to carry out an Equality Impact Assessment before trialling the technology at the Notting Hill Carnival.

We discussed the report and the future of the technology with Gracie Bradley (Interim Director, Liberty), Mutale Nkonde (CEO, AI for the People), Sarah Chander (Senior Policy Adviser, European Digital Rights), and Areeq Chowdhury (WebRoots Democracy).

This discussion took place during the WebRoots Democracy Festival in November 2020.

Magid Magid is a Somali-British justice activist, author, and former elected politician. He was a Green Party Member of the European Parliament and was previously the youngest ever Lord Mayor of Sheffield.

In this event, BBC journalist, Catrin Nye, interviews Magid about his debut book ‘The Art of Disruption’ and his thoughts on radically reforming democracy in the UK and Europe.

This discussion took place during the WebRoots Democracy Festival in November 2020.

Online voting has the potential to future-proof elections and increase access to democracy for the most marginalised people in society but faces significant challenges on the grounds of trust and security. Will it ever happen?

We discussed this question with Professor Mark Ryan (Computer Security, University of Birmingham), Max Beverton-Palmer (Head of Internet Policy, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change), Rebecca Ogbonna and Charlotte McMillan (Royal Society for Blind Children’s Youth Forum), and Areeq Chowdhury (WebRoots Democracy).

This discussion took place during the WebRoots Democracy Festival in November 2020.

The line between free speech and hate speech has become harder to define and enforce in the Internet age. Has the concept of free speech fundamentally changed? Is content moderation the same as censorship? How can we protect free speech whilst clamping down on incitements to violence in an online world?

We explored these questions with Charlotte Jee (MIT Technology Review), Jamie Bartlett (author of The People vs Tech and host of The Missing Cryptoqueen), and Alex Krasodomski-Jones (Director, Centre for the Analysis of Social Media).

This discussion took place during the WebRoots Democracy Festival in November 2020.