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This week, I went to the Copenhagen Democracy Summit to recommit Google\u2019s support to the cause of strengthening democracy. It was only two years since our last trip to the Summit, during a moment of uncertainty and crisis in Europe. This year, it was clear from the discussions that the stakes are even higher.<\/p>\n
Today, state-sponsored threat groups are attacking government institutions across Europe, exploiting vulnerable systems. And concerns are mounting about the potential misuse of technology to create more convincing disinformation campaigns and phishing attacks on the doorstep of June\u2019s EU elections.<\/p>\n
The moment demands a more effective partnership between public, private and civic organizations, between technology and democracy, and better tools in democracy\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n
For many in Europe, technology companies have an obvious responsibility to support democracy. We hear this every day in conversation with leaders in government, academia and civil society. Others might ask what makes Google, a private company, so interested in protecting Europe\u2019s democratic institutions.<\/p>\n
The answer is this: democracy and civic dialogue have always sustained cooperation and innovation. As we said in 2022, democracy creates the conditions, such as openness and pluralism, for scientific inquiry to flourish, and technologists have a responsibility in return to protect those ideals.<\/p>\n
Second, for many thousands of Googlers, Europe is home. We don\u2019t take for granted what many decades of peace and democracy have meant for the safety and prosperity of our local communities.<\/p>\n
Given the importance of this issue, I was proud this week to announce the new \u20ac15M Google.org Impact Challenge: Strengthening Democracy in Europe \u2014 a fund that will help civil society groups and social innovators in Europe to scale initiatives promoting democratic resilience, including through the use of advanced technology and AI.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re making this commitment in the middle of a \u201csuper election year\u201d, with EU parliamentary elections across 27 member states in June and a number of national elections later in the year. But like our other efforts to support election integrity, this new \u20ac15M commitment is not about any one election cycle. It\u2019s also not about campaign politics; as we said in 2022, we leave \u201cpolitics to the politicians.\u201d It\u2019s about unlocking solutions to the most pressing problems.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not only about 2024; it\u2019s for the long term. Supporting civil society and drawing from the experience and ideas of government leaders is core to how we\u2019ll help support making technology work for democracy for many years to come.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll continue to support the EU elections in two main ways: Firstly, through our products and policies \u2014 by surfacing high-quality information to voters, safeguarding our platforms from abuse and equipping campaigns with best-in-class security tools and training.<\/p>\n
And secondly, by supporting civil society organizations. When it opens for applications later this year, our new \u20ac15M Google.org Impact Challenge will set out to support the scaling of high-impact initiatives and solutions to strengthen democracy, including those that harness AI.<\/p>\n
A particular focus will be on areas such as protecting election integrity \u2014 for example, supporting cybersecurity for critical infrastructure and building the cyber capacity of nonprofit organizations who are working on elections and in support of democracy, who may be at risk from bad actors.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll also focus on supporting organizations who are promoting civic engagement, education and dialogue ahead of national elections across Europe in 2025 and 2026 \u2014 for example, by making election information more accessible.<\/p>\n
Among the organizations that Google.org has already supported to do this work are:<\/p>\n
We will share more information about the Challenge in the coming months. Organizations can register their interest at g.co\/ImpactChallenge\/DemocracyEurope.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n