Philipp Darius is a PhD candidate in the Governance programme and affiliated to the Centre for Digital Governance at the Hertie School. His research focuses on the intersections of technology, politics and the media and in particular how the ongoing media transformation towards social platforms affects political campaigning, public discourses and democratic elections. In more detail, his dissertation research explores the governance reactions of social media platforms and policymakers to current phenomena such as hate speech or disinformation. Since these often rely on algorithmic decision-making, the inherent uncertainties and biases may have adverse effects on political campaigning, the quality of public discourses and democratic elections. Following an interdisciplinary empirical approach, he applies computational methods to collect and analyse digital trace data from social networking sites and other sources. Besides, he works as a consultant with companies and NGOs and supports an open and liberal society.
Main supervisor: Prof. Dr. Andrea Römmele