Digital Democracy: Past, Present, Future An Interview with Vinton G. Cerf Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google

In this 2019 interview, Vint Cerf, co-creator of the Internet, reflects on the evolution of the Internet from a computational to a social medium. He shares his concerns about the spread of disinformation and the way that the negative feedback loop created by rating systems encourage the propagation of sensationalism and falsehoods. He argues that, while authentication technology, in particular, will play an important role in fostering a more civil and civic Internet, ultimately, the solutions for strengthening democracy lie less with technology than in critical thinking by individuals and more democratically governed, bottom-up, and consensus-based institutions. Some of these institutions already exist while new ones have yet to be invented with robust new governance mechanisms to foster international collaboration on some of the hardest issues of our time.