Statement: Advertisers- Join us in Calling for Big Tech to Protect People and Elections

Words by Digital Action

June 14, 2024

8 mins read

Statement from the Global Coalition for Tech Justice to Advertisers:  Join us in Calling for Big Tech to Protect People and Elections

We, the undersigned civil society organizations and digital rights experts, are calling upon advertisers to join us as allies in the global effort to protect elections and safeguard human rights. Our call comes a year after we first engaged with tech companies, demanding that they safeguard people and elections in this crucial year for democracy globally. Yet, our pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

We are halfway through this massive “year of democracy” during which more than 2 billion people are voting across more than 65 countries. This election megacycle is the first to take place in the age of social media and artificial intelligence, an era dominated by a few massive corporations who wield disproportionate power over our online civic space, our data and information integrity.

So far, Big Tech platforms have failed to do their part to safeguard the integrity of elections and protect human rights, despite the considerable efforts of the Global Coalition for Tech Justice (GCTJ) to engage major tech corporations, including Meta, Google, X, and TikTok, since July 2023. We have repeatedly conveyed the demands of the Year of Democracy campaign and called upon Big Tech to develop and publicly disclose robust election plans for the 2024 elections megacycle.

But Big Tech’s response has been totally inadequate, with stark implications for the integrity of elections and tech harms that include disinformation, hate speech, and influence operations that ruin lives and undermine elections. In February, AI-generated content spread on tech platforms helped an alleged human rights abuser become president of Indonesia, while in Pakistan, female journalists and politicians were targeted in a hateful post-elections social media campaign. Last month, politicians and bad actors in South Africa were spreading conspiracy theories about vote rigging. And in June in Mexico, some voters were so confused by misinformation, they weren’t sure how to mark their ballot.

In fact, massive layoffs in trust and safety, election integrity, ethics and regional teams combined with restrictions on data access for researchers show that Big Tech companies are slashing investments and oversight of platform safety, even as they continue to profit from hate-filled ads and disinformation. At the same time, artificial intelligence has exacerbated the ability to create and spread online disinformation, microtarget voters and amass vast quantities of user data.

Your advertising dollars are at the heart of the Big Tech business model – and indeed end up funding these tech harms. How tech platforms feature your advertisements – whether next to climate denialism, technology-facilitated gender-based violence, false political advertising, election disinformation, hate speech or incitement to violence, can impact your brand in important ways. For example, a survey by the Brand Safety Institute and the Trustworthy Accountability Group revealed almost 90% of UK consumers would reduce their purchases of a brand’s products if their ads appeared next to racist or hate speech.

Individually, none of us is strong enough to shift the behavior of these behemoths meaningfully: our future on so many fronts depends on us standing together until Big Tech is made to put human and civil rights first and protect the integrity of our civic space.

Advertisers can wield tremendous power to influence the behavior of Big Tech and protect our democracies and human rights. We as global civil society representatives have sounded the alarm, and now we urge advertisers to stand with us – vocally and publicly. As the US elections approach, and with elections from Tunisia to Ghana still to come in 2024, we ask that advertisers join us in calling upon tech platforms to urgently adopt and apply comprehensive measures to safeguard people and elections equitably worldwide during the 2024 election cycle and into the future.

This initiative is organized by Digital Action and members of the Global Coalition for Tech Justice (GCTJ). 

Advertisers can learn more at yearofdemocracy.org and sign a solidarity letter. Contact info: 

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Signatories

Organisations

  1. #jesuislà
  2. #MeRepresenta
  3. #ShePersisted
  4. 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media
  5. ACRD-Congo
  6. Africa Sans Haine
  7. AfroLeadership
  8. AI Forensics
  9. Aláfia Lab | *desinformante
  10. Al Bawsala
  11. Aliança Nacional Lgbti+
  12. ALQST for Human Rights
  13. All Out
  14. Amnesty International, Kenya
  15. ARIJ
  16. Article 19 Eastern Africa
  17. Associação Alternativa Terrazul
  18. Avaaz
  19. Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum
  20. Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication
  21. Bareedo Platform Somalia
  22. Beam Reports
  23. Bram FUDZULANI
  24. Business and Human Rights Resource Centre
  25. Campaign On Digital Ethics (CODE)
  26. Casa Hacker
  27. Center for AI Ethics and Governance in Africa – CAIEGA
  28. Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD)
  29. Center for Legal Support
  30. Center for Media Research – Nepal
  31. Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions
  32. Centro Latinoamericano de Investigaciones Sobre Internet
  33. Check First
  34. Check My Ads
  35. Civic Tech Field Guide
  36. Civil Society Advocacy Network On Climate Change and the Environment Sierra Leone (CAN-SL)
  37. Co – Creation Hub, GoVote (CcHUB)
  38. Coalizão Negra por Direitos
  39. Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)
  40. Common Cause India
  41. Common Cause Zambia
  42. Common good foundation Anna Amoomo
  43. Community Focus Foundation Ghana (CFF-Ghana)
  44. Conectas Direitos Humanos
  45. Conscious Ad Network
  46. Consortium of Ethiopian Human Rights Organizations (CEHRO)
  47. Council for Responsible Social Media in Kenya
  48. Daraj Media
  49. Datalat Foundation
  50. Defend Democracy
  51. Democracia em Xeque
  52. Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)
  53. Desinformante & Aláfia Lab
  54. Devon Turner (Legal Resources Centre – South Africa)
  55. Digital Access
  56. Digital Citizenship
  57. Digital HUmanities Lab (Federal University of Bahia)
  58. Digital Rights Advocacy
  59. Digital Rights Foundation
  60. Digital Rights Lab – Sudan
  61. DIGITAL RIGHTS LAWYERS INITIATIVE
  62. Disarm Foundation
  63. DISARM Foundation
  64. DUKINGIRE ISI YACU
  65. DUKINGIRE ISI YACU
  66. Ekō
  67. Electronic Frontier Foundation
  68. European Partnership for Democracy
  69. Fair Vote UK
  70. FALA
  71. FEMALE organization
  72. Foresight Generation Club
  73. Friends of Democracy
  74. Friends of the Earth U.S.
  75. FRONTIERS FOR GENDER ADVOCACY, ACCOUNTABILITY & EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE
  76. Fundación Internet Bolivia
  77. Global Action Plan
  78. Global Digital Citizenship Lab, York University
  79. Global Project Against Hate and Extremism
  80. Global Witness
  81. Great Hope Foundation Malawi
  82. Greek Helsinki Monitor
  83. Guendalina Simoncini
  84. Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
  85. Helen Suzman Foundation
  86. Hindus for Human Rights
  87. Hope and Courage Collective
  88. Human Rights Journalists Network Nigeria
  89. Human Rights Watch
  90. HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagament
  91. Hungarian Civil Liberties Union
  92. Idayat Hassan
  93. IDDLAC (Contextual)
  94. IFEX
  95. impACT International
  96. India American Muslim Council
  97. India American Muslim Council
  98. India Civil Watch International
  99. Inform Africa
  100. Innovation for Change Middle East and North Africa
  101. INSM for Digital Rights in Iraq
  102. Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD)
  103. Instituto Vero
  104. International Council of Indian Musilms (ICIM)
  105. International Media Support
  106. International Press Institute
  107. Intersection Association for Rights and Freedoms
  108. IPANDETEC
  109. ITAKA INTERNATIONAL
  110. Jordan Open Source Association (JOSA)
  111. Jordan Transparency Center
  112. Journalists for Human Rights
  113. Judith foundation
  114. Koneta Hub
  115. Law and Public Policy Center
  116. Lawyers Hub
  117. Legal Dignity
  118. Legal Grounds Institute
  119. Legal Resources Centre
  120. LOVE-Storm – Together against Online Hate
  121. LoveAid Foundation
  122. Me Representa
  123. Media Alliance of Zimbabwe
  124. Media Monitoring Africa
  125. Misbar
  126. Myanmar Internet Project
  127. Netlab-UFRJ
  128. News Literacy Lab
  129. NOSSAS
  130. Open Britain
  131. Open Knowledge Foundation
  132. OpenWatch
  133. Panos Institute Southern Africa
  134. Paradigm Initiative
  135. Paradigm Initiative
  136. Pen to Paper (https://www.pentopaper.org/)
  137. People Vs Big Tech
  138. Poliwatch Africa
  139. Pollicy
  140. Real Facebook Oversight Board
  141. REDE NACIONAL DE COMBATE À DESINFORMAÇÃO
  142. Research Tree
  143. Rinascimento Green
  144. Salamat Dz
  145. Samir Kassir Foundation
  146. Sleeping Giants Brasil
  147. SMEX
  148. Social Movement Technologies
  149. SocialTIC
  150. society for environment and education
  151. Stichting The London Story
  152. Tech Global Institute
  153. Tech Justice
  154. Tech4Peace
  155. TEDIC
  156. The African Middle Eastern Leadership Project (AMEL)
  157. The Center for Freedom of Information
  158. The Citizens
  159. The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy
  160. The Visual Activist
  161. Transparency International EU
  162. Ubunteam
  163. USC Neely Center
  164. Verify-Sy
  165. Wathata Kinyua Foundation
  166. Webfala Digital Skills for all Initiative
  167. West Africa ICT Action Network
  168. WHAT TO FIX
  169. WITNESS
  170. Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET)
  171. YODET
  172. Youth and Society (YAS)
  173. Zambian Cyber Security Initiative Foundation

Individuals

  1. Aashka Raval
  2. Agita Pasaribu
  3. amandla.mobi
  4. Amira Galal
  5. Anna Grace Calhoun
  6. Anne Oloo
  7. Anriette Esterhuysen
  8. Bárbara Paes
  9. Camilla Machuy
  10. Cheryl Akinyi
  11. Cosima Wiltshire
  12. Danielle novaes
  13. Dima Samaro
  14. Dr. Michael Strautmann
  15. Dr. Simon Kruschinski
  16. Ella Shoup
  17. Eya Oueslati
  18. Fatuma Nyirenda
  19. Francesca Edgerton
  20. Hiba Monzer
  21. Ingrid Farias
  22. James
  23. Karina Mendoza
  24. Karyn Caplan
  25. Keerti Rajagopalan
  26. Kirsten Fiedler
  27. Kyle Taylor
  28. Lotanang Marothe
  29. Luis Serrano
  30. Luise Koch
  31. Luiz Eugenio Scarpino Junior
  32. Manuel Alejandro Baron Romero
  33. Maria Paula Russo Riva
  34. Martin Kapenda
  35. Michaela Nakayama Shapiro
  36. Mostafa Fouad
  37. Nasiru Deen
  38. Natalia Albert
  39. Natalia Zuazo
  40. Nevine Ebeid
  41. OUSSEMA REZGUI
  42. Pablo Nunes
  43. Paola Cantarini Guerra
  44. Raymond Amumpaire
  45. Renatha Maria Giordani
  46. Ricardo de Holanda Melo Montenegro
  47. Rima Sghaier
  48. Sam Phiri
  49. Seble G. Workneh
  50. Seongkyul Park
  51. Tundun Folami
  52. Yasmin Curzi

 

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