Keen On

Last October, we featured a conversation with Kian Vesteinsson, co-author of Freedom House’s 2023 FREEDOM ON THE NET report, about the repressive power of artificial intelligence. A year later, Freedom House’s 2024 FREEDOM ON THE NET report is entitled “The Struggle for Trust Online”. And as Allie Funk, one of its co-authors, explains, it’s a very mixed report on the state of online trust. In some countries - most notably Iceland, Chile and Taiwan - internet freedom has improved in 2024. But in others - especially Russia, Iran and, especially, China - things have only gotten worse over the last year. So, I asked Funk, what needs to change to build online trust around the world? How can the large democracies of North America and Europe learn from Iceland, Chile and Taiwan to build more freedom on the net?Allie Funk leads Freedom House's technology and democracy initiative, including Freedom on the Net and Election Watch for the Digital Age. She also represents Freedom House on the Freedom Online Coalition's