Who We Are
The IGC is an international array of legislators, policy advisors, and other experts who share a recognition of the damage online platforms are doing to their nations’ social fabrics and democratic systems. We are working together to forge international alliances that bring shared, effective strategies into the battle against online disinformation, hate speech, and electoral interference.
The idea of an International Grand Committee on Disinformation and “Fake News” (IGC) arose from a meeting in a Washington, DC pub between four members of Parliament: the UK’s Damian Collins and Ian Lucas, and Canada’s Bob Zimmer and Nathaniel Erskine-Smith. Recognizing the common challenges their two nations faced in regulating the increasing – and increasingly malignant – influence of social media platforms, they resolved to bring together colleagues and experts from around the world to search for effective, shared strategies.
The inaugural session of the IGC took place in London on November 27, 2018. Since then, the IGC has met in Ottawa and Dublin, and co-hosted a series of seminars in the United States. Ministers, journalists, technology executives and subject matter experts, concerned about the damage platform-hosted hate, disinformation and fake news are doing to their countries have all taken part, as have parliamentarians from twenty-one nations: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Mexico, Morocco, Singapore, St. Lucia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The IGC has become an ongoing forum for information sharing, collaboration, and harmonization of policies to address common problems and achieve common goals among democratic states. Participants represent nations that are actively considering legislation to address digital threats to democracy and society. The IGC will also provide opportunities for Members to speak to the media, announce new initiatives, and raise awareness about their work.
Support for some of the logistics and convening of the IGC is provided by Reset, an initiative of Luminate, a part of The Omidyar Group of philanthropies.