A GDPR for Democracy to Combat a Digital Blitzkrieg on Europe

by Ricken Patel, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Avaaz

The Wright brothers invented the first planes to connect people. But within years, hundreds of thousands of fighters were produced for combat, not transportation.

The full power of this new technology was not felt until the invention of ‘Blitzkrieg’*— an innovative ‘method of warfare whereby an attacking force, spearheaded by a dense concentration of armoured infantry formations with close air support, breaks through the opponent’s line of defence by short, fast, powerful attacks and then dislocates the defenders, using speed and surprise to encircle them with the help of air superiority’**.

The deployment of new technology and innovative asymmetric tactics was catastrophic. Have we learned this lesson of history?

Today the greatest existential threat facing the EU is a disinformation Blitzkrieg. This is a method of information warfare in which attacking trolls and fake accounts, spearheaded by a dense concentration of weaponised bots that manipulate social media virality algorithms, break into Europe’s democratic and electoral processes, and continue their short, fast, and powerful attacks through spreading disinformation and distrust until they dislocate those defending basic European values and democracy.

Russia’s government, right-wing extremists like Steve Bannon, and other malicious actors are prepared for battle, yet member states and the European Union institutions are far from ready to face this existential threat.

Think this is an exaggeration? Let’s not forget how people felt about Trump and Brexit. The good news is that the solution to this problem is at our fingertips.

The first step is to follow France’s successful resistance during last year’s elections: Build a large and well-resourced cyber team to work side by side with independent (Europe Wide) election committees, media, and law enforcement bodies to track and disrupt disinformation attacks rapidly and effectively.

This step is far more likely to succeed if implemented hand in hand with installing defences for democracy on the battlefield itself — the large social media platforms. Both the European Commission and EU governments have the historic responsibility to regulate these platforms, putting in place a GDPR for democracy, before it is too late.

The Avaaz team has fought disinformation for years, and after many months of research and deliberation with experts, social media executives and lawmakers worldwide, has defined 5 key objectives that regulations must achieve to safeguard the democratic process from disinformation.

Avaaz has campaigned against Internet censorship for a decade. These 5 reforms, overwhelmingly supported by our 18 million EU members, protect freedom of speech as well as democracy:

• Ban ALL fake or imposter accounts deployed for political influence
• Correct ALL false content — warn citizens each and every time they’re targeted
• Fund Independent Fact Checkers
• Clearly label ALL paid political content
• Independent quarterly audits of large platforms to ensure transparency and cooperation in fighting disinformation

Matched with the French model of cyber-defence, we believe these reforms will severely cripple current disinformation techniques, though constant innovation will also be necessary.

European citizens want their elections to be fair and safe. They want their voices to be heard. The people at this conference can deliver that goal.

Let’s not let them down.

* David Sanger, Chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times, in his new book “The Perfect Weapon” provides a detailed account of the invention of airpower, its use in the Blitzkrieg, and how that innovation resembles where the world is today as pertains cyber warfare.

** Most common definition from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitzkrieg#CITEREFGlantz2010