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How do social media platforms influence democracy? Karoline Helbig explores how platform logics - from digital architectures to economic incentives - shape public discourse and interact with broader deliberative systems. Drawing on deliberative theory and digitisation research, she offers a nuanced account of how platforms both constrain and support democratic communication. The study speaks to scholars, policymakers, and readers interested in democracy in a digital world.
About the author
Karoline Helbig is a senior researcher at Power for Democracies, a non-governmental, research-focused organization dedicated to strengthening democratic resilience worldwide. She also holds a technology and human rights fellowship at Harvard Kennedy School. She earned her doctorate in 2024 from Universität Hannover, where her research explored the intersections of digital technology and deliberative democratic theory. With an academic background in sociology, democratic theory, and mathematics, she has contributed to several interdisciplinary research initiatives examining the effects of digitisation on democratic processes, including projects at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) and the Weizenbaum Institute.
Summary
How do social media platforms influence democracy? Caroline Helbig explores how platform logics – from digital architectures to economic incentives – shape public discourse and interact with broader deliberative systems. Moving beyond techno-pessimism, she offers a nuanced account of how platforms both constrain and support democratic communication. Drawing on deliberative theory and digitisation research, the study speaks to scholars, policymakers, and readers interested in democracy in a digital world.
