The Internet as Subject of Democratic Engagement
A think piece for the ESPAS 2016 conference by Jeanette Hoffmann, Professor and Head of the Internet Policy Field, Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society
Nearly all democratic theories characterise democracy as an open-ended, necessarily incomplete and dynamic project. Its concrete form varies over time and across regions; and the scope of self-determination may shrink or expand even if its legal framework may remain unaltered. However, when we think of the relationship between democracy and the Internet, we often focus on rather traditional forms of democratic engagement and control. This may concern, for example, new opportunities for participation or more transparency and accountability in political decision-making. Yet, if we regard the Internet as a mere tool for political action, we risk overlooking that and how digital technologies and democratic practices mutually influence each other and thereby create something new.
A practical example concerns the recent international debate about Facebook’s content policies. A Norwegian journalist had uploaded a Pulitzer Prize winning picture by Nick Ut from 1972 showing a group of terrified Vietnamese children running away from Napalm bombing. At its centre is a naked nine year old girl who had torn off her burning clothes. Because Facebook’s rules ban nudity, the social network took down the famous picture and all subsequently uploaded copies in protest of this policy, including who Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg accused Facebook of editing ‘our common history’.
We risk overlooking how digital technologies and democratic practices mutually influence each other and thereby create something new.
The protest against Facebook is by no means an isolated incidence. With the growing pervasiveness of social networks and new forms of algorithmic decision-making, we can observe an increasing politicisation of their underlying rationalities. People do not only question the ‘curation’ of content; they also ask for greater algorithmic accountability and transparency. Interestingly, these new areas of democratic engagement unfold on an international level. Moreover, they include issues traditionally considered private such as trade secrets (i.e. algorithms) or freedom of contract (i.e. terms of service). Thus, the Internet enables democratic action but simultaneously may itself become subject of democratic engagement.
