Transparenz und De-Platforming als Strategien der Debatte im digitalen öffentlichen Raum

Abstract

Digital debates often seem to be characterized by hate, violence (and its glorification), and fake news, which is why we need to consider regulatory mechanisms as formal structures for political public spheres. Depending on our ideas of an ideal digital public sphere, we need to negotiate a balance between—and the conflict of—different positions and identities, broad participation by citizens, and, all in all, appropriate forms of interaction. Our contribution looks, from a democracy theory perspective, at suitable strategies for regulating debate in the public digital space and, as a first step, identifies the principles of deplatforming and transparency. Deplatforming makes it possible to deny access and a platform to radical, inhuman actors and positions. Transparency aims to represent a broad range of different positions and the associated counterarguments. Both approaches structure the public sphere and may be guided by different ideals of the public sphere. In our article, we explain both principles and classify them in terms of democratic theory. By embedding them in deliberative and radical democratic perspectives on the public sphere and its digital transformation, we ask: Do the two strategies tend to promote conflict or consensus? What is the significance of the two strategies in terms of democratic theory?