interested in discussing the democratic implications of digital media are
drawing on similar
theoretical models, asking what we would want
algorithmic curation to look like from different idealistic starting points,
whether participatory or deliberative (Helberger 2019). These are important
discussions but also often rather abstract and a bit removed from the hustle and
bustle of actually existing and highly imperfect democratic politics, so we will
instead follow Joseph Schumpeter a step further and focus on the implications
in terms of a fairly minimal conception of democracy as liberal, representative,
and based on relatively diverse and inclusive elite competition that offers a basic
structure for making and implementing political decisions but no guarantee that
these decisions will be “good” ones that ultimately ensure peace, prosperity,
and personal fulﬁllment (Nielsen 2016b). If we start with this more minimalist
Social_Media_and_Democracy