Workshop on perspectives from Policy, Philosophy, and Practice

26 March 2026, 9:30am - 5:30pm

Institute of Philosophy, Jilská 1, Seminar Room 124a, Prague 1

Registration is encouraged but not required via email to Paula Gürtler, guertler@flu.cas.cz

The problem of social media platforms and AI for democracy is rather well-known today, with various books dedicated to this topic specifically (e.g., Coeckelbergh (2024) "Why AI Undermines Democracy and What To Do About It", Di Nucci (2021) "The Control Paradox", Smuha (2024) "Algorithmic Rule By Law", Zuboff (2019) "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism"). Among the greatest challenges are the erosion of trusted information environments, as more and more people rely on social media platforms to receive news. Many scholars speak of an 'information disorder' online, characterised by different forms of false or misleading information, which can be clustered into misinformation and disinformation. Polarisation online is widespread and influences political discourse and societies at large. Further, various different actors aim to influence user behaviour on- and offline through targeted content recommendation, using different techniques to exert influence. The Cambridge Analytica scandal of 2016 has been eye-opening for the public on the challenge that social media platforms pose for democracy. 

Of course, there has also been a policy response to this by the European Union, that is committed to values of democracy, rule of law and respect for fundamental rights. These include, for example, the General Data Protection Regulation (2016), the Digital Services Act (2022) and the AI Act (2024). However, considering the persistence of the issues, as evidenced for example by the annulment of the Romanian election due to online disinformation campaigns in late 2024, there is more that has to be done.

This academic workshop brings together a community of researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds to investigate the impact of social media platforms and AI on democracy and develop concrete policy recommendations to counteract the negative impact. The goal is to identify additional pathways for action and instruments to address the issues.
 
The questions that motivate this workshop are:

• What are the harmful impacts of algorithmic systems, AI and social media platforms on democracy? 
• What means (legal, technical, political…) are available to us to hold platforms and/or creators accountable? 
• How can we effectively address these issues and what policies are needed for an effective approach?
  
  The goal of the workshop is to develop an actionable proposal on how to strengthen democracy vis-à-vis new technologies. This requires interdisciplinary exchange between philosophy, political and social sciences, media studies, computer science, and legal studies. This workshop offers opportunities for the public to participate.
  
  Presenters will have had a policy brief training with Daniel Cassidy of the Centre for European Policy Studies the previous day to acquire the necessary skills for effective policy communication. 
  
  

Programme
(Each talk lasts 30 minutes and is followed by a 15 minutes discussion of the policy proposal put forth by the presenter.) 

9.30-10.00
Arrival

10.00-10.45
“AI and Online Manipulation: Preserving Epistemic Agency” - John Dorsch & Tuğba Yoldaş, Postdoctoral Researchers at CETE-P

10.45-11.30
“AI & Democracy: Elements, Risks and EU Digital Laws” - Matúš Mesarčík, Ethics and Law Specialist at KInIT and Comenius University Bratislava

11.30-11.45
Coffee break 

11.45-12.30
“AI social integration and informational harms” - Andrew McIntyre, Independent Researcher

12.30-13.45
Lunch 

13.45-14.30
“Leveraging Algorithmic Auditing of Social Media Recommenders” - Jakub Šimko, Lead and Researcher at KInIT

14.30-15.15
“Title tbd” Jacqueline Bellon, Doctoral Researcher at University of Tübingen

15.15-15.30
Coffee break 

15.30-16.15
tbd 

16.15-17.15
Joint Discussion: Toward Policy Options 

17.15-17.30
Closing

Supported by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.