The WebRoots Democracy Podcast WebRoots Democracy

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.