Brand Identity Access Democracy

Context Brief

Elections in the digital age remain vulnerable to various forms of toxic political discourse, such as online disinformation and hate speech. The actors exploiting these vulnerabilities, as well as the tools and tactics they use to do so, quickly evolve over time and differ from country to country. That means fast-paced, continuous monitoring and analysis of online political activities are crucial for safeguarding elections in real-time.

Such evidence-based reporting is critical during national elections in EU member states. Although the EU recently finalized the Digital Services Act (DSA), a new regulatory framework for how online platforms should address illegal and harmful online content, it remains unclear how auditing, accountability, and content moderation standards will work in practice during election cycles.

The main outputs of the access:// democracy project will be structured around two pillars: 1. Monitoring online discourse during key national elections in the EU

2. Generating evidence to evaluate whether social media platforms are adhering to new obligations codified by the DSA.