Mozilla Launches Election Toolkit To Combat Voter Manipulation in 2019

Mozilla, known widely for their web browser ‘Firefox’  launches it’s Firefox EU Elections Toolkit, a toolkit designed to help promote online transparency and combat voter manipulation through tools that help the user make more “independent and informed decisions”.

Mozilla & Elections

The EU Elections will take place in just a few weeks, on May 24th for citizens of Ireland and all EU citizens of voting age.  The elections take place every 5 years across Europe with the last being held in 2014. Mozilla has provided a toolkit online to help citizens of the EU be more informed and protect themselves from manipulation in the upcoming election.

Mozilla is the third largest web browser only behind Google’s Chrome browser and Apple’s Safari with over 250 million monthly users and 11.7% of the internet browser market,  they are recommending these tools to users of their browser but it is available on all web browsers.

Mozilla claims that  “Online manipulation of voter views is a growing problem and many of those voters are essentially defenceless against absorbing disinformation and misleading ideas disguised as ‘facts’”, a statement which drove them to design this toolkit prior to the EU elections.

Facebook has taken action to ensure transparency and to stop online manipulation but according to Mozilla “The API doesn’t even meet the minimum criteria to ensure transparency and prevent modern, technical forms of online manipulation” The toolkit that Mozilla has made available has many different functions in regards to being informed and avoiding manipulation.

These features include news about the election from sources Mozilla deem trustworthy, browser add-ons that support “independent research and decision making” and background information on the nature of online manipulation and how other questionable online activities affect those on the web such as tracking, opaque online advertising and how to protect themselves on the web, this info also comes in short “easy-to-digest” video form.

Mozilla claims that even though online manipulation is always relevant on the web, with the importance of the five-year parliamentary elections, that it “calls for practical measures” They wanted to make sure that detailed or advanced technical knowledge wasn’t mandatory for those who wanted to get independent information and be informed when voting.

Election Toolkit

The toolkit website is available to access from any browser and Mozilla recommends using it before casting a vote in the upcoming election to protect and value your vote as well as become informed about who you are voting for.

You can find more information about the Firefox EU Elections Toolkit in this blog post.

You can also find read more about Mozilla in some of our other work:

https://irishtechnews.ie/why-encryption-matters-brett-gaylor-mozilla-launches-codemoji/

https://irishtechnews.ie/women-who-tech-and-mozilla-announce-winners-of-women-startup-challenge-europe/

See more about Mozilla here also.

We have blocked
the videos
from autoplaying
across the web

and which
you were probably
annoyed by

Forgive us
they were so loud
so intrusive
and so nopehttps://t.co/oLRydPNT9A

— Firefox ? (@firefox) May 3, 2019

Mozilla makes browsers, apps, code and tools that put people before profit.
Our mission: Keep the internet open and accessible to all.

Our mission is to ensure the Internet is a global public resource, open and accessible to all. An Internet that truly puts people first, where individuals can shape their own experience and are empowered, safe and independent.

At Mozilla, we’re a global community of technologists, thinkers and builders working together to keep the Internet alive and accessible, so people worldwide can be informed contributors and creators of the Web. We believe this act of human collaboration across an open platform is essential to individual growth and our collective future.

Read the Mozilla Manifesto to learn even more about the values and principles that guide the pursuit of our mission and our goals.

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