This question is the focus of a new research project at the Ministry of Digital Affairs’ Centre for social media, tech and democracy which will investigate the digitised democratic debate.
Research-informed policymaking
1 February 2025 marked the start of a three-year research effort at the Centre for social media, tech and democracy in collaboration with the Department of Communication and Psychology at Aalborg University with the appointment of the Ministry’s first industrial PhD, Ulrikke Dybdal Sørensen.
The project will contribute to the work carried out at the centre and the Ministry of Digital Affairs in addressing the influence of digital platforms in shaping and structuring the digital democratic debate. The project is designed to create and provide knowledge for the centre to deliver robust and effective policy making within the tech field and to enhance democratic control of big tech companies.
The project is intended to develop practical methods for fostering closer collaboration between research and policy. This is necessary as there is limited coordination and infrastructure for research-informed policy making. As such, the project represents an ongoing strategic effort in knowledge mobilisation and research communication, supporting the dissemination of findings and explore new ways to bridge the gap between research and policy.
A digitised democratic debate
Digital platforms and social media are in many ways the new centre for democratic debate. This has moved the central arena of our social, cultural and political public sphere online, creating a hybrid media and information culture, where our information channels are directed by digital platforms and filled with digital information. The result is a digitised public debate.
This holds democratic potential but also presents challenges when public debate is directed by algorithms and dominated by engaging and synthetic content, where credible information and nuanced analysis of socially relevant issues are deprioritised or avoided.
| ORGANISATION: Research collaboration |
| The AdvanCing a Democratic Digital Culture project is part of the centre’s mission to bridge the gap between research and policy, as stated in the Media Agreement for 2023-2026. The project is also part of the ADD project’s efforts to create a basis for knowledge dissemination and scientific advice. Hopefully, the project will be an example to follow in other areas of science and policy. The research collaboration is part of Innovation Fund Denmark’s Industrial Research Programme. Supervised by David Budtz Pedersen and Mathieu Jacomy from Aalborg University and Mads Bramsen and Amalie Fudim Villesen from the centre, the project aims to generate application-oriented knowledge about the impact of digital platforms on the democratic debate. An Advisory Board of researchers and practitioners with insight into the project’s subject areas and application areas will also be established. |
This raises concerns about the information integrity when the algorithms and commercial interests that the platforms are built on do not guarantee the same credible information, accessibility or exposure as producers and providers of information who follow, for example, publicist principles or the Danish Media Responsibility Act. Instead, all forms of content, including mis- and disinformation, fake news, infotainment, deep fakes and synthetic content are disseminated based on emotional and attention-grabbing principles without regard for quality or integrity. This blurs the lines between factual information, opinion, entertainment and outright falsehoods creating a noisy information environment – especially since the content we are exposed to and navigate around is crucial to public debate and participation.
Meanwhile, research remains ambiguous about the extent and impact of these media and information dynamics. At first glance, it seems that while there are not large amounts of misinformation, a positive belief in misinformation or fake news, the ability to distinguish between false, synthetic and genuine content is highly challenged. At the same time, doomscrolling and brain rot (the excessive use of low-quality digital content that is thought to degrade the brain) are common information practices. Additionally, evidence suggests that alarmist communication about the dangers of digital information culture can lead to scepticism towards all information. Coupled with the ability to produce unlimited amounts information and the acceleration and scale of its dissemination, the noise in the media and information environment is increasing.
If citizens do not have access to or are not exposed to credible sources of information, distrust even credible information or fail to form common opinions, it disrupts and alters the conditions for democratic debate.
The impact and challenge of a noisy information environment are therefore not only a matter of the amount of misinformation in our information channels or how significant a concern deep fakes are. It is also a matter of whether a cumulative effect arises leading to increased scepticism, less participation and less cohesion.
Currently, the focus of democratic control of digital platforms is centred on the EU Digital Services Act. The act includes provisions requiring large tech companies to address systemic risks in the design, operation and use of their platforms. However, what exactly this entails is unclear. To create favourable conditions for a digital information environment, it is essential to uncover, identify and clarify systemic risks. Thus, we need further understanding and systemic studies on whether the changes in media and information culture impact public debate and how. Besides being important in its own right, the concerns have been further intensified by the recent announcements and developments in the tech world.
AdvanCing a Democratic Digital Culture
The project is based on the research question: How can we create optimal conditions for democratic debate in a hybrid media and information culture?
The research question has three basic components: democratic debate, hybrid media and information culture, and favourable conditions. The relationship between these is explored through three sub-questions that (1) clarify the new conditions for public debate when digital platforms and digital information set the scene, (2) analyse how this is affecting the Danish democratic debate on selected issues and (3) investigate the positive elements and harmful effects of a digitalised democratic debate to develop recommendations on how we can create optimal conditions for a democratic digital culture. The project will map the Danish democratic conversation online and examine its foundations through a digital research design. Currently, the project is exploring which case(s) could serve as a proxy for democratic debate and where (on which platforms) our public debate(s) takes place.