The information environment is integral to democracy. This is the space where people process information to make sense of the world using tools from alphabets to artificial intelligence to produce outputs from the spoken word to virtual reality and whatever comes along in the future. Manipulation of the information environment threatens the legitimacy of democracy if citizens are increasingly unable to make free and informed decisions. Our understanding of this complex system is still emerging at the same time as conflicts within the information environment erode its integrity. In response, democracies around the world are increasing control over their national information ecosystems. But with little evidence to inform policymaking, they risk backsliding into authoritarianism or having their interventions backfire as trust in public institutions is degraded by information pollution. Carnegie’s Information Environment Project is a multistakeholder effort to help policymakers understand the information environment, think through the impact of efforts to govern it, and identify promising interventions to foster democracy.
The Technology and International Affairs Program develops insights to address the governance challenges and large-scale risks of new technologies. Our experts identify actionable best practices and incentives for industry and government leaders on artificial intelligence, cyber threats, cloud security, countering influence operations, reducing the risk of biotechnologies, and ensuring global digital inclusion.
Alicia Wanless
Senior Fellow, Technology and International Affairs, Director, Information Environment Project
Alicia Wanless is the director of the Information Environment Project.
Samantha Lai
Senior Research Analyst, Technology and International Affairs
Samantha Lai is a senior research analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Technology and International Affairs Program, where she studies the governance of the information environment.
Yoel Roth
Nonresident Scholar, Technology and International Affairs Program
Yoel Roth is a nonresident scholar in the Technology and International Affairs Program.
Christine Balagué
Nonresident Scholar, Technology and International Affairs
Christine Balagué is a nonresident scholar in the Carnegie Technology and International Affairs Program.
Gavin Wilde
Senior Fellow, Technology and International Affairs
Gavin Wilde is a senior fellow in the Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he applies his expertise on Russia and information warfare to examine the strategic challenges posed by cyber and influence operations, propaganda, and emerging technologies.
Jon Bateman
Senior Fellow, Technology and International Affairs Program
Jon Bateman is a senior fellow in the Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Arthur Nelson
Deputy Director, Technology and International Affairs Program
Arthur Nelson is deputy director of Carnegie’s Technology and International Affairs Program.
Alicia Wanless
Senior Fellow, Technology and International Affairs, Director, Information Environment Project
Alicia Wanless is the director of the Information Environment Project.
Samantha Lai
Senior Research Analyst, Technology and International Affairs
Samantha Lai is a senior research analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Technology and International Affairs Program, where she studies the governance of the information environment.
Yoel Roth
Nonresident Scholar, Technology and International Affairs Program
Yoel Roth is a nonresident scholar in the Technology and International Affairs Program.
Christine Balagué
Nonresident Scholar, Technology and International Affairs
Christine Balagué is a nonresident scholar in the Carnegie Technology and International Affairs Program.
Gavin Wilde
Senior Fellow, Technology and International Affairs
Gavin Wilde is a senior fellow in the Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he applies his expertise on Russia and information warfare to examine the strategic challenges posed by cyber and influence operations, propaganda, and emerging technologies.
Jon Bateman
Senior Fellow, Technology and International Affairs Program
Jon Bateman is a senior fellow in the Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Arthur Nelson
Deputy Director, Technology and International Affairs Program
Arthur Nelson is deputy director of Carnegie’s Technology and International Affairs Program.
The Information Environment Project is developing a framework for analyzing national information ecosystems over time.
The Information Environment Project is developing a framework for analyzing national information ecosystems over time.
The Information Environment Project works to articulate a definition of information integrity that can be adopted by policymakers.
The Information Environment Project works to articulate a definition of information integrity that can be adopted by policymakers.
The Information Environment Project builds on the Partnership for Countering Influence Operations, which worked to foster evidence-informed policymaking for the information environment.
The Information Environment Project builds on the Partnership for Countering Influence Operations, which worked to foster evidence-informed policymaking for the information environment.
The Information Environment Project works to understand the relationship between information competition, conflict and governance.
The Information Environment Project works to understand the relationship between information competition, conflict and governance.
The role of the information environment in democracy necessitates that any response is inherently multistakeholder, involving government, industry, civil society and citizens. The Information Environment Project works to understand the relationships between stakeholder types as well as between research and policymaking to identify and address gaps.
The role of the information environment in democracy necessitates that any response is inherently multistakeholder, involving government, industry, civil society and citizens. The Information Environment Project works to understand the relationships between stakeholder types as well as between research and policymaking to identify and address gaps.
Given the scale required to speed up research to foster evidence-informed policymaking, nothing short of a multistakeholder equivalent of a European Center for Nuclear Research—or a CERN for the information environment—can address this challenge.
Carnegie’s Information Environment Project (IEP) is made possible with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Google, and Meta. Carnegie is wholly and solely responsible for the contents of its products, written or otherwise. We welcome conversations with new donors. All donations are subject to Carnegie’s donor policy review. We do not allow donors prior approval of drafts, influence on selection of project participants, or any influence over the findings and recommendations of work they may support.
Carnegie’s Information Environment Project (IEP) is made possible with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Google, and Meta. Carnegie is wholly and solely responsible for the contents of its products, written or otherwise. We welcome conversations with new donors. All donations are subject to Carnegie’s donor policy review. We do not allow donors prior approval of drafts, influence on selection of project participants, or any influence over the findings and recommendations of work they may support.
American leaders and scholars have long feared the prospect that hostile foreign powers could subvert democracy by spreading false, misleading, and inflammatory information by using various media.
As information integrity is increasingly used in the context of the information environment, it needs a clear definition that provides guidance on how the concept can be translated into policy.
A high-level, evidence-informed guide to some of the major proposals for how democratic governments, platforms, and others can counter disinformation.
Calls grow louder to regulate artificial intelligence, counter disinformation, and social media. But how can democracies govern the information environment if they don’t know how it affects people’s thinking and behaviour?
From COVID-19 misinformation to authoritarian crackdowns on democratic protests or hybrid warfare involving information manipulation, the negative impacts that crises have on the information environment can be challenging to reverse, threatening the physical safety of civilians and the democratic stability of societies.
A discussion on the links between information and technology, information competition through history, the need for a better understanding of information ecosystems, whether we’re in an information “civil war,” and much else besides.
A conversation about whether disinformation is something people can even fight and what it might end up costing.
Three criteria can help democratic governments assess whether an influence operation is acceptable or unacceptable.
The war on “disinformation” skates over important question: What are the collateral effects of anti-disinformation policies? How do interventions against information pollution operate in the real world?
Researchers, policymakers, and civil society groups need to come together to clarify among themselves and for platforms what type of information would be most helpful to protect the public interest and what framework could ensure this information is feasible for platforms to provide.
