Understanding Digital Peacebuilding with Lena Slachmuijlder

Lena Slachmuijlder serves as a senior advisor for digital peacebuilding at Search for Common Ground, a notable practitioner fellow at the USC Neely Center, and co-chair of the Council on Tech and Social Cohesion. Her work straddles the thin line between technology and social responsibility, inherently linking the two in significant ways.

The Urgency of Digital Platform Regulation

In many parts of the globe today, the regulation of digital platforms is either stagnant or entirely absent. Governments, civil society, and media alike continually voice concerns over harmful or illicit content; however, the responsibility for the design and impact of these platforms often goes unaddressed. This gap is especially perilous in regions afflicted by conflict, where unchecked harmful content has immediate potential to incite real-world violence. For many, this issue transcends theoretical discussions of policy—it’s a matter of survival.

As it stands, very few countries have established legal frameworks governing how digital platforms should function, influence behavior, or impact public discourse. This inadequacy raises critical questions about the implications of giving governments more control over digital channels, potentially facilitating censorship and curtailing freedom of expression.

However, a nascent global consensus offers a hopeful avenue forward. Regulators and experts are beginning to grasp a foundational truth that research supports: online harms don’t simply arise from “bad users” or “bad content.” They are inherently linked to platform designs that prioritize attention, engagement, and data extraction.

The Path to Accountability: A New Blueprint

The Prosocial Tech Design Regulation: A Practical Guide serves as a crucial resource in this effort. Crafted by the Council on Tech and Social Cohesion and shaped by input from 20 contributors and reviewers across five continents, this guide lays out a cohesive framework for platform accountability. Organizations like the USC Neely Center, Integrity Institute, and TechSocietal played pivotal roles in this collaborative venture. Drawing from numerous policy texts and regulatory frameworks—from Minnesota to Indonesia—the guide sheds light on effective strategies for advocating platform responsibility.

From Content Battles to Design Fixes

Slachmuijlder’s guide emphasizes a paradigm shift from reactive content regulation to proactive engagement with the design of digital platforms. Her consultations across Africa and Asia revealed a staggering consensus on the need for regulations that prioritize user safety without infringing on fundamental rights.

Several workshops held in the Sahel over the past 18 months and dialogues at regional forums reaffirm the urgency of this shift in focus. Significant commonalities emerged during these consultations, revealing both shared concerns and aspirations for a regulatory model that reinforces safety and rights.

The guide suggests five actionable interventions for regulators, advocating for changes that manage the underlying mechanisms of platforms rather than relying on content moderation.

Key Recommendations from the Guide

1. Ban Addictive and Manipulative Design:
   Policies should discourage features like infinite scrolling and autoplay. Tools that prompt users to limit their usage or reflect on their engagement can mitigate compulsive behaviors, particularly among younger audiences.

2. Default to Privacy and Safety for Children:
   Minors’ accounts should begin as private by default, with proactive measures in place to restrict contact from strangers. Child impact assessments should become a standard requirement for new features, echoing the principles set forth by organizations like the 5Rights Foundation.

3. Reform Recommender Systems for Long-term Value:
   Recommendations should prioritize content quality and diversity over mere engagement metrics. Regulatory bodies must advocate for transparent algorithms that can be audited and adjusted by users.

4. Require Transparency and Testing:
   Major changes to platform designs need to undergo testing and evaluation. Public logs of these changes can allow stakeholders to track evolving risks and impacts.

5. Use Real User Experience to Guide Policy:
   Regulators should leverage user experiences as indices of success, utilizing rolling surveys that measure aspects like time well spent and community well-being, fostering public trust.

The Equity Question: Why Safer for Some?

A pivotal theme emerging from Slachmuijlder’s guide resonates with the broader question of equity in digital space—why do some regions appear to be safer for children than others? For example, the UK’s Age-Appropriate Design Code has spurred substantial improvements in how platforms manage child safety. In stark contrast, many lower-income nations continue to grapple with significant gaps in protections, leaving children vulnerable to unmoderated interactions and exploitative algorithms.

This disparity poses not just a safety issue but also a profound justice concern. Civil society leaders from various regions have raised critical inquiries about why the welfare of users in their countries doesn’t seem to carry the same weight as that of others.

Platforms Don’t Have to Wait

Importantly, many changes outlined in the guide don’t necessitate legislative action to implement. Certain platforms are already taking steps voluntarily—Pinterest, for example, has adopted design adjustments to limit engagement incentives for minors. Such initiatives set important precedents and highlight the potential benefits of prioritizing user well-being in design practices.

However, scaling these reforms universally requires public pressure. It is evident that coordinated action among regulators, civil society, and cross-border collaborations is essential for catalyzing lasting change.

Governance is a Shared Responsibility

Slachmuijlder emphasizes that governance in digital spaces must involve multiple stakeholders. The insights she shares mirror principles found in global frameworks, underlining that shaping rules must be a joint effort among regulators, civil society, researchers, and the platforms themselves.

Regionally, Africa is not without its existing frameworks, such as the Abidjan Declaration and the African Union’s Child Online Safety Policy. The guide aims to enhance these initiatives by proposing the establishment of an African Digital Experience Observatory—a collaborative platform for monitoring user experiences and correlating them with design features, thus building real-time insights.

This collective approach has potential, as discussions spanning Bangkok to Lagos have highlighted a shared desire for progress that respects rights and safety.

The Prosocial Tech Design Regulation guide advocates for a thoughtful engagement strategy, incorporating adaptable language and policies that reflect both global standards and local contexts. By addressing fundamental design issues rather than policing speech, the guide paves the way for a healthier digital public life.

Through her advocacy, Lena Slachmuijlder underscores that the world of digital peacebuilding is vibrant, intertwined with the increasing demand for accountability in tech design, as we strive for a compassionate, equitable, and well-regulated digital landscape.