THE INTERNET DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE
A platform for positive change in an interconnected world
The Internet Democracy Initiative will study problems that have widespread information and social media implications. This initiative will provide leadership in understanding the role of the internet in structuring democracy, society, and markets.
The Imperative
How can the internet be a constructive force in society? The early days of the internet offered the promise of decentralized democratic transformation, social connection, easy access to high quality information, and a platform to diverse voices. While there are glimpses of these possibilities still, the internet today is strikingly centralized and dominated by relatively few gatekeepers, with society riven by polarization.
The bottom-up utopian vision of the 1990s has seemingly turned into a 2020s dystopia of misinformation and harassment, producing calls for aggressive top-down control by corporations and government. The objective of this initiative is to support rigorous research on the problems of the contemporary information ecosystem, and to evaluate the potential of interventions into and uses of the affordances of the internet to support connection and to empower democracy.
New Stories and Publications
Read more from our affiliates through their recent publications and news features
Upcoming Events
September
Trust and Safety Research Conference
September 26-27
IDI affiliates will be presenting at Stanford’s Trust and Safety Research Conference.
- Characteristics and Prevalence of Fake Social Media Profiles with AI-generated faces, Kai-Cheng Yang
- Understanding Platform Users’ Algorithmic Knowledge, John Wihbey
- Exploring the Interaction of Trust in Science and Vaccine Hesitancy, Pranav Goel
- Where Do Election Deniers Get their News?, Hong Qu
October
October-December
Misinformation Speaker Series
Jason Reifler
Host: IDI
Date: October 17
Time: 11:00 AM EST
Location: Zoom Webinar
Arvind Narayanan
Date: Wednesday, November 20th
Time: 2 – 3 p.m.
Location: Zoom Webinar
Ceren Budak
Host: Shorenstein
Date: December 5
Time: 12 – 1 p.m.
Location: HKS campus (Starr Auditorium) & Zoom
Vish Viswanath
Host: IDI
Date: December 18
Time: TBD
Location: TBD
Event Recap:
Internet and Society: The Trans-Atlantic Research Future
The May 2024 Internet Democracy Initiative Conference
In May 2024, the Internet Democracy Initiative hosted an Internet and Society Conference at the Northeastern University-London campus. Hear from the speakers as they discussed the role of the internet in structuring democracy, society, and markets with emphasis on areas that have widespread information and social media implications. Read the story on Northeastern Global News.
What we do
Collaborating across Northeastern’s interdisciplinary networks
The IDI is developing a clearinghouse of best practices and algorithms, and building a resource set for organizations around the world interested in defending democracy and its institutions.
Creating next-gen resources for industry and community
The Internet Democracy Initiative, building our NSF internet observatory, will study problems that have widespread information and social media implications.
Building a more equitable, fair, and representative future.
The IDI will catalyze a multi-disciplinary community at Northeastern, including through nascent teams in Oakland and London