Helsinki: Protecting elections against mis- and disinformation

Building on past workshops, the event brought together key representatives from Finnish governmental bodies, including the Ministry of Justice, the Government’s Communication Department, the National Cyber Security Centre, the National Emergency Supply Agency, the Security Committee and the Association of Finnish Cities and Municipalities, as well as the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE). During the event, representatives of these institutions and organizations presented their mandates, perspectives and work relating to the evolving challenges posed by misinformation and disinformation in elections. These presentations served as a pretext for participants’ discussions assessing existing strategies and identifying areas for improvement, including through enhanced collaboration.

The event was structured to focus on risk management, resilience-building, and crisis management processes and strategies. The overall result was an improved shared understanding of the topic and reinforced understanding that stronger cooperation among stakeholders is needed to ensure that election-related mis/disinformation risks, threats and crises can be effectively addressed. In that sense, the expert meeting also provided an opportunity for participants to strengthen relationships and cross-sector collaboration in protecting electoral integrity in the information environment. 

As part of the Protecting Elections Project, the Institute is developing and testing an Integrated Framework for Protecting Elections. It consists of a set of gender-sensitive global public goods, including a guide for practitioners, a self-assessment tool, a training curriculum and a resource toolbox, that can inspire, enable and empower electoral management bodies and other stakeholders in protecting the integrity of electoral processes.

The partnership with MoJ Finland provides International IDEA with valuable experiences and feedback for strengthening the Framework before it is launched as a global public good.

For more information, visit our project page: Protecting Elections