Amidst the recent surge of right-wing populism across the West, many are questioning the merits and legitimacy of liberal democracy.
A recent UK Youth Poll conducted by the John Smith Centre reveals a shocking trend: 27% of 16–29-year-olds in the UK say they prefer dictatorship over democracy. Only a third of young people say they would consider getting involved in organised politics and overwhelmingly they see politics as too divided. Needless to say, something has gone very wrong.
A common explanation offered by mainstream discourse is to blame the crisis on the harmful influence of social media and the ignorance of the average voter. We are told that social media misinformation is sowing political divisions, driving voters to their respective extreme. Meanwhile, the average voter is disparaged as uninformed at best and bigoted at worst, unable to see that they are being duped by populist parties who promise everything but deliver nothing.
My view, however, is that a lot of discussions about social media are chasing after the wrong target.
As Henry Farrell, an American political scientist at Johns Hopkins University argues, too much attention is on misinformation because we assume the problem is that it misinforms individuals. What we are ignoring is that social media also reproduces the publics with malformed collective understandings.
Given the fact that we human beings are social animals, our worldviews and politics are shaped by the society and community we engage with. But social media algorithms distort our view, they present some aspect of the public we want to see while sidelining others. It curates a highly particular but warped representation of our allies, opponents and the general public.
Likewise, given the uneven and limited nature of political participation in liberal democracy, those closest to politics – such as politicians, activists and highly engaged voters – are especially affected by social media algorithms. It creates the perception that the social media users politicians are engaging with are the general public and not an algorithmically curated segment of the population.
This creates a toxic feedback loop between politically active users and politicians which incentivises tribalist politics and penalises cross-party consensus-building, making legislating difficult and compromise impossible. This results in political paralysis and fuelling disenchantment in liberal democracy.
So how do we fix the problem of the publics with malformed collective understandings? I propose a two-pronged approach to the current crisis. Namely, social media regulation and the revival of British civic infrastructure.
First, I strongly urge the regulation of social media platforms and bring them under democratic control.
We need to sever the toxic feedback loop between highly engaged voters and politicians that is driving politics to the extreme. Social media platforms derive their business model from amplifying moral outrage for content and engagement; we need to stop this.
To enforce this, I propose establishing an independent regulatory commission. This commission needs to be entrusted with the authority to compel adjustments to social media algorithms and, if necessary, should be authorised to break up companies under anti-trust laws if these platforms become too intransigent to regulation.
Second—and more importantly— is that we need to “rebuild the public square” beyond the digital sphere.
As Gordon Brown highlighted in his recent John Smith Memorial Lecture, there has been a notable decline in civic infrastructure in Britain over the past decades, such as libraries, sports club and the trade unions. The loss of these civic associations has had a devastating impact on the social fabric of society – with increased reports of loneliness and isolation which drove people to search for purpose and belonging online.
I will add to Brown’s speech by highlighting civic associations also serve as foundational cells of democratic life – namely serving as informal information clearinghouses for the whole of society. Such information clearinghouses are important for the creation of political awareness, civic virtue and community knowledge that is necessary for educating responsible and sensible democratic citizens.
Many people have complained about the prevalence of misinformation and conspiracy theories online. In the absence of strong civic associations, people with fringe beliefs often go unchallenged in real life and remain unchecked in the online world. What we are missing is a trusted and educated voice – someone with the moral authority to tell them off and challenge them to reconsider.
In addition, civic associations are also important in terms of providing a channel of information to the political institutions which allows the government to be more responsive to people’s needs and vice versa. The loss of such institutions meant that our political class had lost touch with the rest of society. They are forced to rely upon social media to keep track of political change while oblivious to the fact that it is merely a very selective and radical segment of the electorate.
As Henry Farrell explains, simply making individuals better at thinking and seeing blind spots is not good enough, because the individual is limited in our capacity to receive and process information. And given how social media is curating our perception of the world and politics, there is a limit in terms of what the individual can do, even if we want to.
Rather we really need is to find a better collective means of thinking. The ability for people to think collectively whilst embracing different perspectives and the plurality of ideas. A society that is capable of self-governing and holding its elected representatives accountable: that, I believe, is the true strength and virtue of democracy.
One thing is certain; we are not going to get the collective means of thinking on social media platforms. The social media landscape is too fragmented, selective and controlled by private interests that do not have our public interest in mind. Therefore, democracy must be rebuilt offline, in the libraries, sports club and the trade unions.
Max Liu is a final-year undergraduate student at the University of Glasgow, studying Politics and Quantitative Methods.
His academic interests include political philosophy, democracy and civil society, and Chinese history. He is passionate about contributing to public life and aspires to pursue a career in politics and public service.
