The internet and social media are today the primary media consumption and information-gathering sources. Democracy and its principles and values are very little or nonexistent in this context. In existing democracies, people have little connection with democracy in everyday life, leaving it up to other systems to manipulate and influence people. We want to involve the average citizen to be democratically active.
Social media itself is neither good nor bad for democracy – but it can be either depending on who is using it and for what ends. Social media is a powerful tool for creating awareness and for advocacy. Ironically, what makes social media useful for promoting democracy also provides means for those with anti-democratic sentiments in democratic societies. A complicating factor is that the arrival and continuing growth of social media has removed the traditional gatekeepers of “news” – the professional journalists and powerful editors and publishers. The Internet lowered the barrier to publishing news dramatically, but social media accelerated this process.
This reinforces the need for trustful and qualified information. Despite some brilliant activism of young people engaging with societal or environmental issues, effective information on basic principles and values of democracy is lacking for most young people.