New Nordic think tank examines influence of tech giants

The influ­ence of tech giants on the demo­cra­tic discourse has incre­a­sed in recent years. The Nordic coun­tries are among the most digi­ta­li­sed in the world, and an incre­a­sing propor­tion of public deba­tes and conver­sa­ti­ons take place online. The Nordic minis­ters for culture are presen­ting a new Nordic think tank with experts from all over the Nordic Region.

Through this pan-Nordic effort, the Nordic minis­ters for culture hope to be able to pool know­ledge and expe­ri­ence from all the diffe­rent coun­tries. The Danish Ministry of Culture is leading the way and co-ordi­na­ting the think tank’s work. Danish Minis­ter for Culture, Ane Hals­boe-Jørgen­sen, says:

“The tech giants occupy an enor­mous place in the day-to-day lives of Danes and, for better or worse, they have an influ­ence on our demo­cra­tic soci­ety.  We’re very digi­tal here in the Nordic Region and, at the same time, we share a healthy criti­cal appro­ach to the impact of tech­no­logy on our soci­ety. There­fore, a Nordic tech think tank is an obvi­ous tool for gaining more know­ledge about, for exam­ple, how and to what extent algo­rithms affect us and demo­cracy, and what we can do poli­ti­cally to have a more demo­cra­tic influ­ence on their deve­lop­ment. I look forward to the results of the work and the much-needed debate that the think tank can hope­fully help to spark.” That’s what’s needed. 

The task of the think tank will be to advance the debate about the tech giants’ influ­ence on demo­cracy in the Nordic Region, so that the Nordic Region can better deal with challen­ges in the future. Among other things, this means that we must look more closely at what influ­ence Nordic soci­e­ties want tech giants to have in the public debate, and how we can ensure that they support an open demo­cra­tic conver­sa­tion rather than under­mine it.” Tobias Bornakke, who chairs the think tank, says:

“Plat­forms such as Face­book, YouTube and TikTok are the demo­cra­tic commu­nity centres of our time. Howe­ver, over the past decade, the rese­arch and whist­le­blo­wer reports have repe­a­tedly demons­tra­ted that the tech giants and their algo­rithms pose major challen­ges for the demo­cra­tic discourse. We’re seeing an inten­si­fi­ca­tion of hatred, the infil­tra­tion of foreign propa­ganda into discourse, and pola­ri­sa­tion gain momen­tum. The problem is that the algo­rithms which are today’s editors of public discourse are desig­ned to prima­rily bene­fit the tech giants’ private inter­ests rather than soci­ety. I hope that with this think tank, we can point to concrete initi­a­ti­ves which can meet some of the concrete challen­ges that thre­a­ten our digi­tal debate today.”

The think tank has its first meeting after the summer, when a start-up event will also be held with the oppor­tu­nity for those who aren’t members of the think tank to provide input for the upco­ming work. The think tank will carry out the assign­ment within a year, and will present its recom­men­da­ti­ons in the first half of 2023.

• Tobias Bornakke (Denmark) [chair]
• Anja Bech­mann (Denmark)
• Martin Holm­berg (Sweden)
• Carl Heath (Sweden)
• Bente Kals­nes (Norway)
• Sumaya Jirde Ali (Norway)
• Minna Aslama Horo­witz (Finland)
• Hanna Haas­lahti (Finland)
• Thor­geir Ólafs­son (Iceland)
• Elfa Ýr Gylfa­dót­tir (Iceland)
• Jákup Brúsá (Faroe Islands)
• Signe Ravn-Højga­ard (Green­land)
• Fredrik Gran­lund (Åland)

The Nordic minis­ters for culture have also commis­si­o­ned a report on the influ­ence of tech giants on the condi­ti­ons of the news media, compi­led by Nordi­com, the centre for Nordic media rese­arch at the Univer­sity of Gothen­burg. In 2021, Nordi­com presen­ted the report “COVID-19 and the Nordic news media”, which eviden­ces acce­le­ra­ting chan­ges in the media market such as the shift of adver­ti­sing invest­ments from nati­o­nal to global adver­ti­sing plat­forms.