By Elizabeth Dubois
Communication professor Elizabeth Dubois shares three concerns about democracy in the digital age and urges attendance at two related events on campus this month:
- On November 14 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., a panel discussion on Social Media and Platform Politics: The Un(intended) Consequences for Democracy hosted by iVote-jeVote and the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue.
- On November 19 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., the Chancellor’s Debate, entitled: Democracy Disrupted? The 2019 Federal Election and Beyond.
Social media, search engines, instant messaging, and other digital tools are increasingly used for political purposes. From learning about current affairs, to finding a polling place, to arguing about what counts as satire – online spaces have become political.
A lot of good can come from online political discussion and engagement. The Internet and related digital media have the potential to support community building and mobilization around specific issues, get-out-the-vote campaigns, and greater accessibility to information. But there are risks too. Here are three big issues we should be thinking about.
First, platforms like Facebook, Google, and Twitter are political.
Even if they are not being intentionally used for political purposes, they are political: these platforms are making decisions every day about what and who gets to be heard.
- When Google’s algorithms (the rules for what content shows up where) put certain information in the top result spots, that is a decision about information control.
- When Facebook changes its interface to allow you to flag content you think is false, that is a decision about which voices are invited and listened to.
- When Twitter decides to offer training to women running for office on how to deal with online harassment, that is a decision about which voices get to be prominent and which people are responsible.
Filter bubbles, disinformation, hate speech, and media literacy are all common concerns that arise in the public discourse on the impact of the Internet on democracy. Moreover, the very design of platforms plays a huge role in managing each of these concerns.
Second, people can game algorithms and manipulate the information we see.
We need algorithms to help us access relevant information because there is simply too much information for any one human to sift through on their own. However, most social media and search algorithms are designed to send you the most clickable, likeable, and shareable content rather than the most accurate, trusted, or civically relevant content.
What’s more, some individuals have learned how to game algorithms to push specific content to the top. For example, search engine optimization is used to push a given website to the top of Google’s results. Other examples include political bots, which are automated accounts on social media or other platforms that mimic human interaction. These bots try to fool both people and algorithms into thinking they are human so they can send social signals that bump up and amplify some messages while pushing down and dampening others.
Third, political parties collect and use personal data without sufficient oversight.
Political parties in Canada have almost always collected data about people. For example, door-to-door canvassers will ask whether someone is likely to vote, which can be useful in getting voters to the polls. But in a digital media environment, we leave traces of our lives with every one of our digital interactions and political parties are increasingly collecting that and other data.
The problem is that the public is unaware of what types of information political parties are collecting, whether this information is correct, or how the parties might use it to target (or exclude) people. This is a major privacy concern and because political parties are exempt from existing privacy laws, Canadians are left unprotected.
These are only some of the concerns related to these issues – there are many other opportunities and challenges to consider. Given that the next Canadian federal election is less than a year away, it is time to turn this conversation up. Don’t miss the two great events on campus this month aiming to do just that.