The livestream of this event is now available by clicking here.

In 2024, more than 4 billion of people are eligible to vote in elections that are taking place in over 60 countries all over the world. Ensuring free and fair elections is at the core of every democracy. Equally, protecting the integrity of elections is one of the main priorities under the EU Digital Services Act. The biggest platforms must identify, analyse, and mitigate systemic risks related to electoral processes and civic discourse, while ensuring protection of freedom of expression. They are required to put in place effective measures to address these risks, such as adapting the design or functioning of their services, changing recommender systems, or increasing resources to better identify systemic risks. They must also be transparent about advertising, recommender systems, and content moderation decisions that could impact electoral processes. Additionally, they are required to share data with authorities and allow vetted researchers to access platform data to help detect, identify, and understand systemic risks related to elections. Since the entry into force of the DSA for the first designated Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines at the end of August 2023, the Commission has engaged in election integrity readiness dialogues. What are the outcomes so far? What are some of the most effective best-practices to ensure elections integrity? Can we expect safer elections in the EU and elsewhere in the world?

On 2 May, the EU Office in San Francisco hosted a Brussels to the Bay policy event on the EU Digital Services Act (DSA). The panel discussion hosted Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director General of DG CNECT at the European Commission and renowned academic, civil society and industry experts to discuss what concrete practices online platforms adopt or should adopt to mitigate online risks connected to elections such as organized disinformation campaigns or deep fakes dissemination, how they can empower users and increase their public accountability.

When: Thursday, May 2nd, 10:00 am (PST)

Where: EU Office in San Francisco - 1 Post Street, suite 2300

AGENDA

• 10:00 - 10.30 | Walk-in & Breakfast
• 10:30 – 10:35 | Introductory remarks by Gerard de Graaf (Senior EU Envoy for Digital to the U.S. & Head of the EU Office in San Francisco) and Anna Lenhart (Senior Advisor, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy)
• 10:35 – 11:30 | Panel discussion with Renate Nikolay (Deputy Director-General, DG Connect, European Commission), Julie Owono (Executive director of Internet Without Borders, member of Meta’s Independent Oversight Board), Jeff Allen (Co-founder and Chief Research Officer for the Integrity Institute), Brandon Silverman (Knight Fellow at George Washington University's Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics) moderated by David Evan Harris (Chancellor's Public Scholar, UC Berkeley)

EU Office in SF

MEET OUT SPEAKERS

Gerard de Graaf, Senior EU Envoy for Digital to the U.S. & Head of the EU Office in San Francisco

Senior EU Envoy for Digital and Head of the new EU Office in San Francisco, Gerard de Graaf has worked for more than 30 years in the European Commission across a wide range of policy areas. Until his recent appointment, he was director in DG CNECT, responsible for the Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts (DSA/DMA), two landmark pieces of legislation which have been recently adopted in the European Union to keep the Internet safe, protect fundamental rights and enhance competition in digital markets.

Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director-General, DG Connect, European Commission

Renate Nikolay is deputy director general at DG Connect at the European Commission responsible for platforms regulation. Before that, she was head of cabinet of Vera Jourova, the European commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality. Before that, she led the Unit of interinstitutional and international relations in DG Justice between 2011 and 2014. She has also been an advisor in the cabinet of the first High Representative and Vice President Catherine Ashton where she led on the relations with the European Parliament in setting up the European External Action Service (EEAS) and on relations with Asia, in particular China. Before that, she was a member of the cabinet of Trade Commissioners Peter Mandelson and Catherine Ashton from 2004 to 2009. Nikolay holds an M.A. as a Fulbright Scholar in Washington DC and a B.A. in law from the Free University in Berlin.

Julie Owono, Executive director of Internet Without Borders, member of Meta’s Independent Oversight Board

Julie Owono is the executive Director of Internet Sans Frontieres, and the founder of the Content Policy & Society Lab, a company first incubated at Stanford University, that helps Tech be better for society. Julie is one of the inaugural members of the Meta Oversight Board, that oversees content moderation decisions on Facebook and instagram. She is also a researcher affiliated with the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard university.

Jeff Allen, Co-founder and Chief Research Officer for the Integrity Institute

Jeff Allen is a former physicist and astronomer who left academia for data science in 2013. Since then, he has worked on multiple sides of the internet information ecosystem: on publishers who are trying to maximize the traffic they get from platforms, on platforms themselves, and on political organizations and campaigns just trying to navigate the online spaces.

While at Facebook, he worked on tackling systemic issues in the public content ecosystems of Facebook and Instagram, developing strategies to ensure that the incentive structure that the platforms created for publishers was in alignment with Facebooks company mission statement.

Jeff is the co-founder and Chief Research Officer for the Integrity Institute. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Brandon Silverman, Knight Fellow at George Washington University's Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics

Brandon was formerly the CEO and Co-Founder of CrowdTangle, a social analytics tool that was acquired by Facebook in 2016 and was used by thousands of researchers & journalists to understand what was happening on social media. He currently works with regulators and civil society organizations to help advocate for more data access & transparency from online platforms, including as an advisor to the Mozilla Foundation, the California Institute for Technology and Democracy, the Integrity Institute, U.S. State Department, UNESCO and more. He has testified in the U.S. Senate & Australian Parliament about transparency, speaks frequently at conferences & events and his writing & commentary have appeared in the New York Times, BBC, the Guardian, CNN, Wired and more.

Moderator: David Evan Harris, Chancellor's Public Scholar, UC Berkeley

David Evan Harris is Chancellor's Public Scholar at UC Berkeley and faculty member at the Haas School of Business, where he teaches courses including AI Ethics for Leaders; Social Movements & Social Media; Civic Technology; and Scenario Planning & Futures Thinking. He is also Senior Policy Advisor at the California Initiative for Technology and Democracy; Senior Research Fellow at the International Computer Science Institute; Senior Advisor for AI & Elections to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU; and Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. He was named to Business Insider’s AI 100 list in 2023. He previously worked as a Research Manager at Meta (formerly Facebook) on the Responsible AI, Civic Integrity and Social Impact teams. His writings and commentary have been featured by the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, CNN, Guardian, BBC, AP, Bloomberg, IEEE Spectrum, The Atlantic, Tech Policy Press and Adbusters. He has advised the White House, US Congress, NATO, European Union, and California Legislature about AI and technology policy.

Two types of tickets are available: in-person participation and online participation. For online attendees, Zoom link will be sent by email the day before the event.

For question or inquiries, please contact us at invitation@euinsanfrancisco.eu.