2023-04-26 02:07:04
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What is it about :With the aim of providing democratic guarantees in the digital space, the Forum on Information and Democracy has partnered with the OngAlcrerfor the regulation and self-regulation of the global space of communication and information. On Monday April 24, 2023, at the headquarters of OngAlcrer, the members of the said forum held a discussion session with digital experts and other players in new information and communication technologies. Thus, in the presence of Gervais Loko (program manager at Alcrer), Camille Grenier, Director of operations of the forum, and Julie Pailhes (project manager of the said forum) presented the report ”Pluralism of information in curation algorithms and of indexing”, followed by several recommendations.
What to take away from the report : According to the director of operations of the forum, Camille Grenier, the report this 2th phase of the partnership with the various civil society organizations can be summarized in three major phases. First, he said, is the creation of the international observatory of information and democracy. “The objective of this observatory is to make meta-analyses and produce reports on the digital space and its structure”. For the second pillar, the representative of the forum, Camille Grenier, evoked the creation of an intergovernmental ”Task Force” of the partnership for information and democracy. “The objective of this creation is to get the competent authorities, the regulatory authorities at all levels to work by promoting exchanges of good practice”, he continues. On this point, he announced that hearings will be held with the High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication (HAAC), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and also with the personal data protection authority in Benin. the third axis is to consolidate the partnership with CSOs in order to build the capacity to convey perspectives and expertise to international working groups”, he concludes. Responding to the concerns of the participants in this exchange session, the director of operations of the forum, Camille Grenier, took stock of the progress of the forum, its genesis and Benin’s involvement in the partnership. During the exchanges, the program manager at Alcrer, Gervais Loko, wished for the observatory to be dismembered in the partner countries and congratulated the forum for having taken into account the recommendations of the NGO Alcrer in the said report.
Some recommendations : The Forum on Information and Democracy has published a series of recommendations on the pluralism of curation and indexing algorithms, for the attention of States and digital platforms. This involves, among other things, dissociating content hosting and curation to open up the algorithm market to competition, ensuring that platforms offer their users several content curation and indexing options, including non-algorithmic options. The forum also recommends supporting, through public funding, the development of technical standards that promote the diversity of content on online platforms and also requiring platforms to disclose content selection criteria so that users can choose the algorithms they will use. The presented report also proposes several ways to give users back the power over the algorithms. It is therefore about giving users greater control over the content they see by strengthening transparency requirements and offering users the right to personalize a content offer, ensuring that options for alternatives are accessible and understandable to the general public and require platforms to implement interoperability measures, allowing users to switch services more easily.
Between the lines : The project manager of the said forum, Julie Pailhes, during the session, took stock of the difficulties recorded by the forum in 2022 and the solutions it had to provide. She identified some proposals and suggestions from participants for improving the structure of the forum. As for the president of the association of bloggers of Benin, Joël Arsène Noumonvi, this session is rich in understanding through the presentation of a report filled with recommendations. To believe it, the implementation of these recommendations in Benin, could improve the digital ecosystem.
What to know about the forum on information and democracy:The Forum on Information and Democracy is a non-profit entity initiated by Reporter Without Borders and led by civil society organizations with a mandate to implement the principles of the International Partnership on Information and Democracy. The forum was created by 11 civil society organizations in 2019. It is independent, represents different fields of expertise and geographical areas, and brings together different categories of stakeholders (governments, civil society, the world of research, the private sector, media, etc.). Its final objective is to issue recommendations and monitor their implementation by the various stakeholders. The forum is chaired by Christophe Deloire, also Secretary General of the NGO Reporters Without Borders.
Assisi Agossa
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