X/Twitter recently made headlines for the firing of its election team (reportedly because someone ‘liked’ a tweet critical of Elon Musk) – right as platforms should be taking critical steps to gear up for next year’s major elections. [1]

Alongside other organizations, Accountable Tech has already released a set of recommendations rooted in Big Tech’s own design principles, policies, and research to mitigate the threats of artificial intelligence (AI) and election interference. But instead, X/Twitter is going backwards when it comes to fighting the threat of election manipulation on its platform.

As our co-founder, Jesse Lehrich shared with WIRED in response:

Elon Musk’s decision is akin to bulldozing the guardrails off the most dangerous 500 miles of the Pacific Coast Highway, on a rainy and foggy night, with no notice to drivers. Without the experts in place to implement precautions ahead of next year’s elections, the platform is taking a major risk.

In recent years, malicious actors have stepped up their efforts to weaponize social platforms, meddle in elections, attack democracy, and erode our shared reality, and now they have powerful AI tools at their disposal to amplify their efforts. Only a system-wide approach will be sufficient to protect democracy – both in the US and around the world – heading into next year’s crucial elections.

That’s why we’ve been working with organizations across the movement to develop the recommendations in Democracy by Design. Now that we’ve shared the framework with the platforms, we have a plan to demand Big Tech implement these critical recommendations. Already, we’ve received a promising response from social media platforms who want to do the right thing. Small design changes and strong enforcement can make a big difference in reducing the impact of attacks on democracy. Together we can help ensure Big Tech takes these important recommendations seriously.

So if you agree that Big Tech and social media companies need to be doing more – a LOT more – to enhance systemic resilience against threats ahead of the 2024 elections, please chip in a donation today to help us advocate for the Democracy by Design recommendations.

Thanks in advance for any support you can provide,

1. WIRED Magazine: X Fires Its Election Team Before a Huge Election Year