Digital Election Observation: Regulatory Challenges around Legal Online Content

Ben Wagner

doi:10.1111/1467-923x.12903

Abstract

AbstractBetween public debates about ‘hacking’ elections, so‐called ‘fake news’ and online disinformation campaigns, it has become hard to imagine what free and fair elections in a digital environment could look like. This challenge is particularly pronounced for election observers who monitor free and fair elections. How should election observers fulfil this task when reliable data in online media campaigns are often not even available to media regulators? The following article provides a brief overview of existing challenges around online content regulation and how these apply to elections and election observation. It then considers where resources for digital electoral observation exist and how most effectively to build on these before, in conclusion, discussing next steps and potential opportunities to develop digital election observation further.

Highlights

WHILE ELECTIONS have been taking place in digital online spaces for many decades, questions about which types of online content should be considered problematic around elections are relatively recent
How should election observers fulfil this task when reliable data in online media campaigns are often not even available to media regulators? The following article provides a brief overview of existing challenges around online content regulation and how these apply to elections and election observation
This article provides a brief overview of existing challenges around online content regulation and how these apply to elections and election observation

Summary

Introduction

WHILE ELECTIONS have been taking place in digital online spaces for many decades, questions about which types of online content should be considered problematic around elections are relatively recent. The following article provides a brief overview of existing challenges around online content regulation and how these apply to elections and election observation. Many of the existing challenges with this debate reappear in the debate about ensuring free and fair elections, in particular the debate on regulating criminally illegal content.

Results

Conclusion