Digital media have transformed the way we communicate, interact, and consume many kinds of information, including political information. Social media technology is still young, but it has already played a part in numerous turbulent protests, a highly polarized U.S. election and an ongoing war of disinformation. Most importantly, digital media have often been at the forefront of the conflict between “good” democratic forces who use social media to make their voices heard and “bad” autocratic and repressive forces who aim to censor this channel to silence these liberal elements. One of the biggest challenges emerging from these dynamics is how digital spaces that have become the forefront for political interaction and public discourse can be governed. The first part of the course combines input from the instructor with in-class case study work to examine four controversial developments in digital spaces that have raised important challenges for digital governance: (a) the origins, proliferation and effects of mis/disinformation and conspiracy theories, (b) the rising levels of toxicity and its societal and political implications, (c) the emergence of highly sophisticated campaigns - by political parties but also foreign or domestic actors with non-democratic aims and (d) the importation from authoritarian regimes into Western democracies of methods of strategic reach and digital governance. It does so, using comprehensive theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence from scientific studies using experimental and data science methods. The second, but in parts overlapping with the first, part of the course focuses on the regulation of digital spaces, content moderation and the future of free speech. Here, most of the emphasis will be placed on how different actors from civil society, governments, tech firms, citizens themselves and even advertisers are involved in the governance and regulation of platforms. This part involves input form the instructor along with class-work focused on developing policy proposals and plausible future scenarios.
