Decentralized technology can help protect democracy around the globe

Cointelegraph

Published Mar 20, 2021 12:14PM ET

Updated Mar 20, 2021 02:00PM ET

Recent political developments in the United States demonstrate the critical challenges that centralized technology platforms pose to democracy — in stark contrast to the powerful role social media played in pro-democracy movements in the Middle East and Hong Kong. U.S. election misinformation and disinformation, as well as white nationalism, spread throughout online groups, and prominent political and social leaders found means to amplify falsehoods through technology platforms.

Within both the public eye and darker corners of the internet, organizers, including members of the Proud Boys, planned the storming of the U.S. Capitol to stop what they believed to be a rigged election. The U.S. events, however, are not isolated. They fit into a broader pattern of centralized social media platforms being used to promote violence, disinformation and insurrection as evidenced in places such as Myanmar and the Philippines.

Nikhil Raghuveera is a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center and a project manager at the Equal Justice Initiative. His research focuses on the intersection of technology, social inequality and systems of oppression. Nikhil graduated with an MBA/MPA from the Wharton School and the Harvard Kennedy School. In graduate school, he focused his studies on racial justice, social movements and technology policy.

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