Council of Europe drafts Declaration on the Manipulative Capabilities of Algorithmic Processes

The Council of Europe Committee of experts on human rights dimensions of automated data processing and different forms of artificial intelligence has published a Draft Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the manipulative capabilities of algorithmic processes. The document draws the attention of states to the rights of all human beings to take decisions and form opinions independently of automated systems. It underlines the risks of using massive amounts of personal and non-personal data to sort and micro-target people, to identify vulnerabilities, and to reshape social environments to achieve specific goals and vested interests. The draft encourages states (1) to consider additional protective frameworks to address the impacts of the targeted use of data on the exercise of human rights; (2) to initiate inclusive public debates on permissible forms of persuasion and unacceptable manipulation; (3) to take measures to ensure that effective legal guarantees are in place against such forms of interference; and (4) to empower users by promoting digital literacy on how much data are generated and used for commercial purposes.