Defending Digital Democracy - a conversation with Dr. Jonas Fegert

Name: Defending Digital Democracy - a conversation with Dr. Jonas Fegert
Start: 2025-01-21T18:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-01-21T20:00:00-05:00
Location: 1377 R Street Northwest,#Suite 300,Washington,20009,US

Schedule

Tue Jan 21 2025 at 06:30 pm to 08:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

1377 R Street Northwest,#Suite 300,Washington,20009,US | Washington, DC

A conversation about digital citizen participation amidst disinformation, polarization, and rising tech giant influence
Democracies are under pressure from digital crises that range from disinformation and hate speech to the rise of authoritarian tendencies and geopolitical instability. Digital platforms – once seen as tools for democratization – now play a dual role: they enable widespread participation but also amplify threats to democratic systems by spreading manipulative narratives, polarizing societies, and challenging institutional legitimacy. In this conversation, we will explore a range of topics, from the rising influence of tech giants like Meta and X on politics to how these and other platforms shape political discourse, societal dynamics, and even governmental agendas in the U.S and across European democracies.
Our current digital landscape includes the threat of disinformation, societal polarization, and the alignment of tech policies with political ideologies. As tech billionaires such as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk wield increasing influence, it is key to examine the ethical and societal implications of their platform decisions, including the weakening of fact-checking mechanisms and strategic policy alignments with populist and authoritarian trends. How can nations safeguard their democratic values while ensuring digital sovereignty in the face of these disruptions?
Building democratic resilience requires more than defensive strategies – it calls for proactive measures to foster transparency, accountability, and inclusive participation. The discussion will explore how emerging technologies, such as AI-driven tools and alternative digital platforms, can be designed to empower public engagement and bolster the integrity of democratic systems in the digital age.
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About the speaker:
Jonas Fegert is an expert in digital democracy, including mitigating disinformation and deepfakes, analyzing societal polarization, and digital citizen participation based in Berlin and Karlsruhe. He heads the House of Participation (HoP) at the FZI Research Center for Information Technology. His work focuses on fostering democratic innovation through cutting-edge research and applied projects, including SOSEC (Landecker Foundation), VIRTUS (German Federal Ministry of Education and Science), TWON (EU Commission), and DeFaktS (German Federal Ministry of Education and Science). These initiatives explore the dynamics of societal sentiment, combating information manipulation, and participatory tools for modern democracy.
At the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Fegert leads a research group addressing these topics with an interdisciplinary approach. He completed his PhD at KIT in Information Systems, which included a Visiting Scholarship at the University of Southern California. He previously studied Political Science, Governance, and Public Policy in Berlin, Friedrichshafen, and Porto Alegre, Brazil, with support from scholarships by the Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich Studienwerk (ELES) and the BMW Foundation.
Fegert is also a podcast host (HoPcast), discussing participation and democracy in the digital age, and is featured in media outlets, including Tagesschau, Tagesspiegel, and several ARD outlets.
Fegert’s professional journey includes six years of legislative experience in the German Bundestag (2008–2014) and a pivotal role in developing initiatives for the Jewish Scholarship Fund ELES as Senior Program Manager (2014–2018).
He remains actively engaged in academia and civic initiatives as the Deputy Advisory Board Chairman of ELES, a member of the Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse (CPPD), and an ROI Fellow of the Schusterman Foundation.
Moderated by Pete Kurtz-Glovas , Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab, American University.