Can social media assist save democracy?

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Can social media assist save democracy? This query brings up three essential components: ‘social media’, ‘assist save’, and ‘democracy’. Let’s take them in reverse order.

Democracy, even in its etymological roots, is inseparable from the individuals. One behavior I picked up from the French academic system — partly to impress lecturers, however principally to know concepts higher — is to take a look at the origins of phrases.

Democracy comes from the Greek demokratia: demos, that means the individuals, and kratos, that means energy. The agoras of historic Greece — these vigorous, chaotic marketplaces stuffed with debate, gossip, and intrigue — are broadly seen because the cradle of democratic observe. There is no such thing as a purpose to think about that fashionable democracy must be sterile, well mannered, or conflict-free. Quite the opposite, democracy thrives on pluralism, dispute, and lively engagement.

For almost all of my era — and an ever-growing phase of the citizens — that engagement occurs on-line. Social media has turn into the brand new agora. It’s arduous to check a functioning democracy immediately that doesn’t contain these digital areas. Many politicians, activists, and civic leaders recognised this early on and embraced social media as their default political enviornment.

However does democracy actually need saving? Earlier than leaping into any grand rescue operation, we should always ask: what precisely are we making an attempt to save lots of? And from what? Democracy, with all its flaws, stays essentially the most profitable system humanity has devised for attaining collective targets by consent. Sure, it’s underneath strain globally. Sure, it has faltered in some areas. But, if given a alternative, most individuals throughout the globe would nonetheless select to dwell in a democracy.

Sarcastically, it’s typically those that lack that alternative who cling most fervently to its promise — they know first-hand what the choice seems to be like. There’s a sobering paradox: in democracies, not figuring out life with out freedom is each a blessing and a blind spot. It’s lucky, however it could additionally obscure the truth that freedoms will not be common and infrequently come at nice human price elsewhere.

And what about social media in all of this? Social media wants democracy as a lot — maybe extra — than democracy wants social media. In authoritarian states, social media is usually restricted or banned. Let’s be clear: these will not be democracies.

In distinction, content material moderation and transparency necessities — being carried out in lots of democracies — are regulatory measures, not acts of censorship. These guidelines purpose to safeguard democratic discourse, not silence it. Democracies don’t systematically block platforms, surveil residents, or flood the general public sq. with state propaganda. These freedoms are exactly what enable social media to flourish.

What democracy wants most immediately will not be rescue from exterior enemies and even from its personal failings — although each threats are actual — however to regain its mojo: the drive and readability to argue its case within the world enviornment of competing ideologies. It must reclaim its voice within the fashionable agora. Social media, for all its flaws, is an effective place to start out.

Laura Barani is a pupil at Taipei European Faculty