Democracy in the age of disinformation, with Audrey Tang

Audrey Tang is the unflappable Jedi knight of technology and democracy, who can connect with different political perspectives. Audrey was the inaugural digital minister of Taiwan and is now ambassador-at-large for cyber affairs. She came to prominence first as an open source programmer and hacker, before becoming involved in Taiwan’s successful Sunflower Movement demonstrations of 2014, and then joining the government in 2016 at age 35, making her the youngest minister ever in Taiwan’s cabinet and the world’s first non-binary cabinet minister. 

She holds the world’s attention on issues like countering disinformation and using technology to enhance democracy including by reducing political polarisation.

Audrey talks about Taiwan’s approach to combatting disinformation without top down moderation, countering authoritarianism without becoming authoritarian yourself, the importance of facts and truth, free speech, new models of social media that reduce polarisation, why she went on Laura Loomer’s podcast, and the way authoritarian China has prompted Taiwan’s democratic approach to technology and online information.