Junge Akademie Frankfurt

Denkraum II der Jungen Akademie

Digital spaces are places for encounter, exchange and negotiation. However, just like the physical world, they are never neutral: their structures, interfaces and rules determine who is heard, who is allowed to shape them, and who remains excluded.

If democracy is to thrive in the digital realm, we need platforms that enable participation rather than exercising control, and that promote transparency rather than facilitating manipulation. But how can digital environments be designed so that they become spaces of democratic culture? Places where diversity is visible, differences of opinion are tolerated, and collective action can be explored? What design and ethical principles are needed to ensure that the digital realm develops not against, but in the interests of the common good?

The Young Academy discusses this with AlgorithmWatch project leader Kristina Hübner and political scientist Lisa Oswald.