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    October 13, 2024 ABA Task Force for American Democracy

    Concerns about democracy in the digital age

    Janna Anderson and Lee Raine, Pew Research Center, February 20, 2020
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    Summary

    This report is a compilation of opinions and predictions about democracy in the digital age. The opinions are sourced from a variety of researchers, academics, and practitioners from different professional and academic fields, including political science, journalism, engineering, philosophy, and more. Across seven broad categories, the opinions raise a range of concerns, from the anti-democratic potential of mass surveillance to the manipulation of technology to sow confusion and distrust in democratic institutions.

    Key Findings

    The experts’ opinions are categorized into the following seven themes:

    1.  Technology will empower the powerful, who generally do not serve democratic goals.
    2.  Digital surveillance capitalism will create an undemocratic class system. 
    3.  Lack of digital fluency and apathy will create an ill-informed public and weaken democracy. 
    4.  Technology can be weaponized to target vulnerable groups and engineer elections.
    5.  Technology will sow confusion and distrust in democratic institutions.
    6.  There seems to be no solution for social media-driven polarization and the decline of trust in independent journalism. 
    7.  It may be difficult to tackle technology-related issues due to their pace of change.