your_say_on_corruption/2009/in focus/news room

30 July 2009

Anti-Corruption 2.0: What’s your say on corruption?

Introduction: social empowerment
Using social media to fight corruption
How social media transforms the fight against corruption
Examples of how social media is being effectively used to fight corruption
How can you engage with Transparency International?
Related blogs and materials
Contact

Introduction: Why does social media matter?

Elections in Iran earlier this year attracted worldwide attention especially with traditional media facing restrictions in reporting and after Iranians have started sharing their thoughts through blogging, posting to facebook and coordinating their protests on twitter - from cell phone cameras capturing scenes of violence that otherwise would go unreported to Twitter feeds used to organize massive protests. Two months after, the keyword #iranelections remains among the top topics on twitter.

This is just one recent example for how internet-based social media has profoundly changed the way we engage with others in the private and public sphere. Social activists, political campaigners, NGOs, government and business all increasingly make use of the connective power of these communication tools to mobilise support, produce knowledge, deliver services and engage with their stakeholders. Inspiring examples for innovative use of social media tools for fighting corruption and fostering sustainable development have emerged all over the world.

Social media - technology that allows users to share content on the web and interact easily with each other goes one step further. With better access to the internet and new services such as blogging platforms, youtube, facebook or flickr, summarised under the concept of web2.0, users have increasingly started to not only consume, but produce and share their ideas, texts and images. Social media empowers citizens to voice concerns, share observations and engagement in addressing and reporting corrupt activities themselves.

Using Social Media to Fight Corruption

The fight against corruption has benefitted from Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). More advanced ICT allowed for the creation of tools such as comprehensive databases making relevant information more accessible and easily traceable, as well as government processes and procedures more transparent through e-government. Access to information serves as a vehicle to publish information that would go lost too easily, such as the database of Official Advertising in Argentina or the European Union budget made accessible at FollowtheMoney.eu. But communication still goes mostly one-way.

In the social web, the fight against corruption becomes relevant for all citizens. It provides anyone with an opportunity to voice their concerns and engage in the fight against corruption. This can be done by signing a petition online, by gathering evidence of corrupt activities, or by blowing the whistle anonymously. In giving voice to unfiltered observations and sharing of information, blogs can play an important role for making governments, public institutions and corporations more accountable. A powerful example is the one from J. N. Jayashree from India, who started a blog to protect her husband - a whistleblower. Through the worldwide internet these voices suddenly become public making it more difficult for leaders to ignore them. As Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International said, the best tool to fight corruption is an empowered citizen.

Through social media traditional obstacles for fighting corruption can be overcome. Key limitations include a difficult political environment where civil society is restricted, the lack of resources and the need to access information. The use of mobile devices, allowing for interaction and partial access to the internet even in regions that are less developed in terms of infrastructure, will further lower the barrier for online engagement.

While recent research shows the closing of the “digital divide” for countries such as the USA, limitations of cost and lack of access to the internet and mobile devices will remain as challenges to be overcome in the developing world.

For civil society organisations this development challenges how they do business. They may need to adapt their advocacy approaches to make these concepts work with traditional approaches and be able to engage more effectively with the citizens who are able and willing to join the efforts and do their part.

How social media transforms the fight against corruption

In sum, social media empowers those who are hurt most by corruption: the citizens. The fight against corruption will become more:

1) Collaborative and crowd-based. Activists, victims and small groups working on the same issue can link up more easily, and gather in a bigger anti-corruption movement. The dream is the old metaphor of the many little fish that eat the big fish.

Crowdsourcing as a tactic can be an option for using collective power. For example when looking at datasets made available under the umbrella of transparency or interpreting data collectively, or for community-based or citizen journalism, as reflected by the NY Times and the People, Spaces, Deliberations-Blog.

2) De-centralised. De-centralised action and new forms of organisation will be developed where necessary. Global protests were initiated after elections in Iran or Moldova, as well as on 4 February 2008 under the motto “A Million Voices Against FARC” via Facebook. The Facebook Revolution in Egypt is another well-known example for de-centralised organisation.

Particularly under restrictive regimes - where civil society is challenged when organising itself - social media can be used to organise, meet virtually and work together to overcome boundaries without sharing a physical space. Google maps can be used as a great tool to track and plan actions.

3) Empowering. Social media can empower people that want to change things. It becomes bottom-up by giving voice to the people affected most. By contributing their experience, easily done via blogs, twitter, or a wiki, they can become part of the movement and give faces to the issues. Through the internet these voices become public, making it more difficult for leaders held accountable to ignore them.

Examples of how social media is being effectively used to fight corruption

Chile
The TI chapter tapped into the wealth of the Spanish language describing corrupt activities and developed a campaign called Corruption Dictionary. The web page uses social networking approaches such as commenting, polling and ranking to document Chilean expressions describing corrupt activities. The project raised general public awareness of corruption in all its forms and collected about 1000 terms of expression.

Maldives
An example of how citizens can be involved in election monitoring, is the iChoose Election Observer, a complaint database developed by Transparency Maldives. The database facilitates the reporting of election-related complaints to the proper authorities and monitors how these complaints are being processed. It shows a very practical way for engaging citizens with text messaging and a very effective way of making fraudulent action transparent.

Morocco
The concept of citizen journalism, of citizens starting to observe acts of corruption and making them public, can be illustrated with the case of the Moroccan “Sniper” who filmed police corruption and made it available on Youtube. This led to the responsible police officers being held accountable.

Philippines
Filipino youth has been mobilised to monitor government e-procurement by Knowledge for Development Centers (KDC). The KDC network trained students to monitor procurement activities online as a way of promoting transparency and zero tolerance for graft and corruption. Through this activity the centers established originally as hubs for research and knowledge, have evolved into centers promoting good governance.

Russia
Report and share your experiences with Russian bureaucracy online. TI Russia’s project Ask Journal is an online Legal Advice Centre and gives users guidance of what they have to do to receive a driver’s license or birth certificate, providing official forms and description of legal procedures, step-by-step guides, and contact information. Where and how things do not work can be discussed in forums.

Global
Google maps is being used to illustrate answers from advocates around the world to issues of global relevance by the Freedom Of Information Advocates Network (FOIANET). This example shows a question from Spain, asking about the publication of salaries of public officials.

Global
Wikileaks.org is an anonymous platform for whistleblowers to expose sensitive documents, and a research tool for journalists. Also, journalists can publish their stories via wikileaks, such as this one on Africa’s looted funds.

Global

As part of TI’s efforts to empower more people in the fight against corruption, a workshopwas organised in November 2008 at the 13th International Anti-corruption Conference 2008. Participants from around the world discussed the potential of social media in this context.

The panel, moderated by Darius Cuplinskas, Director of the Information Programme at the Open Society Institute, consisted of Ellen Miller, Sunlight Foundation, Julian Assange, Advisory Board of Wikileaks, Inés Selvood, Clarin newspaper and University of Buenos Aires, Nicolas Hernández, OCASA and Shaazka Beyerle, Senior Advisor of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.

How can you engage with Transparency International? We want your voice

Transparency International would like you to join the global conversation on anti-corruption, transparency, governance and accountability.

All opportunities for you to have a say and meet like-minded people, including video blogs on YouTube, a community on Facebook or subscriptions to Twitter, are listed here:

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