Social Media, Fake News and Deliberative Democracy

Abstract

The article analyzes the main ideas of Jürgen Habermas, which he outlined in his work «A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics». It is a continuation of the work «The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society» published more than 60 years ago. Habermas sees the main vector of transformation of the public sphere in the emergence and explosive growth of the influence of new media. The latter has not only expanded the functionality of traditional sources of information, but also become a symbol of a new milestone on a historical scale, comparable to the advent of printing. Habermas notes that there are two sides to this, with the dark side still outweighing the benefits. For example, social media promises that each voice will be heard, which is, indisputably, an important step in the development of the public sphere. However, in reality, this declared openness is fraught with many risks. First, there is no control over the distribution of news content. Second, tech corporations are playing an increasingly important role, using algorithms to manipulate users. Third, the concept of the «public sphere» is becoming increasingly vague. Habermas continues the analogy with printing, describing how long it took humanity to adapt to it, and asks a logical question: how many years will it take us to learn to live in the era of new media?