Facebook and Twitter have helped topple dictators and foment social movements. They also have unimaginable power over how people communicate and what they understand about the world. Hear what two pols have to say on what lawmakers can do to save the internet — and democracy.

The technologies developed in Silicon Valley launched Americans into space and laid the groundwork for the internet. But defusing the threats that Big Tech poses for self-government will take social and political innovation — not more gadgets or cleverer code.

Phil Howard has studied — and lived through — misinformation campaigns around the world, but he never thought Western countries like the United Kingdom and the United States could fall prey to bots, trolls and digital operatives.

Internet giants like Facebook, Google and Twitter aren’t just part of the disinformation problem — they are the problem, according to author Nina Jankowicz. She says they’ve abdicated their role to protect the public from trolls, bots and outright lies.