About

As the use of digital platforms and services expands across the globe, so too does the need to better understand how they operate and how companies and governments collect and use the data that they generate.

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No single actor or stakeholder group can solve the challenges of the digital age alone. Barriers to transparency continue to prevent deeper understanding of government and company data use and collection. This inhibits collaborative approaches to addressing these concerns.

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The Action Coalition on Meaningful Transparency (ACT) works to circumvent these barriers by identifying existing work and opportunities, socializing shared understandings and language, developing a repository of shared resources, identifying and sharing lessons learned, facilitating dialogue and trust building, and fostering collaboration.

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The Action Coalition is an initiative launched under the auspices of the Danish Government's Tech for Democracy Initiative and the corresponding year of action. It was created and funded by the Global Network Initiative, with support from the Omidyar Network, Meta and Google. It is governed by a Steering Group of civil society organizations around the world, engaging with an advisory council of public and private sector representatives, and aims to foster a broad set of participants in the multistakeholder advisory coalition (more below and in the terms of reference). The Brainbox Institute serves as the ACT project lead.

 

Structure

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The Steering Group

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The Steering Group consists of civil society organizations. It provides the strategic oversight and day-to-day operation of the ACT. The group is responsible for determining the composition of the Steering Group and Advisory Group, developing the ACT agenda, reviewing ACT outputs, and providing support and oversight for the project lead.

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• The Global Network Initiative 

• The Center for Democracy and Technology

• The Center for Technology and Society, FGV University Rio

• The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)

• The Centre for Communications Governance, National Law University, Delhi

• The Digital Forensic Research Lab

• The Institute for Strategic Dialogue

• Internet Lab

• The Partnership for Countering Influence Operations (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)

• Research ICT Africa

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The Advisory Group

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The Advisory Group features a diverse set of experts in their individual capacities, including from companies and government backgrounds, chosen by the Steering Group. The Advisory Group will be given opportunities to weigh in on ACT workplans and outputs and provide guidance to the Steering Group as appropriate.

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Current members of the Advisory Group include:​

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• Aiden Kim / Elyse Lee, Naver Z

• Alex Walden, Google

• Caroline Greer / Lisa Hayes, TikTok

• Collin Kurre, Ofcom

• Edward Teather / Lama Souma, CEIMIA, Global Partnership on AI

• Guilherme Canela de Souza Godoi, UNESCO (Freedom of Expression Office)

• Jeremy West, Digital Economy Policy Division, OECD

• Jeff Allen, Integrity Institute

• Kristina Kirk, Christchurch Call, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (New Zealand)

• Ľuboš Kukliš, former chair of ERGA and EPRA

• Mette Finneman, Danish Government Tech Ambassador's Office

• Miranda Sissons / Alex Warofka, Meta

• Pedro Vaca Villareal, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)

• Richard Gaines, Wikimedia Foundation

• Wafa Ben-Hassine, Omidyar Network

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Action Coalition Participants

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The Action Coalition Participants, will receive regular updates, event invitations, and opportunities to provide input to ACT workstreams.

 

The Steering Group strives to ensure the ACT participants represent diverse viewpoints and backgrounds, and participants are expected to contribute ACT activities in a respectful, honest manner and respecting relevant confidentiality policies. You can join the coalition using the link at the sign up button above. (Any personal data you share is processed in accordance with the privacy policy.)

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Parallel discussions with GNI members

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In parallel, GNI and the Brainbox institute will be facilitated candid conversations among GNI’s academic, investor, civil society, and ICT company members about the nature of the obstacles to additional transparency and collaboration around company and government data use. Takeaways from this conversation will feed into the work of the ACT.

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Next steps

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The ACT has brought together a wide range of academics,  civil society organizations, companies, governments, and international organizations to work collaboratively on digital transparency. Going forward, we will: 

 

1. clarify relevant definitions and terminology;

2. map existing and identify missing efforts;

3. share lessons learned;

4. identify opportunities for alignment and coordination;

5. encourage and support participation by the majority of world actors in these efforts; and

6. produce recommendations for companies, donors, researchers, and governments.

 

This work will be carried out via public and private events and workshops, one-on-one consultations, and ongoing research and dialogue, driven by the project lead. We will communicate updates publicly on the work of the ACT on a regular basis.