Currently, just a few big corporations control our digital lives, and users have no say. Corporate and government agendas generally do not serve democratic goals and outcomes. These experts worry that the rise of misinformation and disinformation erodes public trust in many institutions and one another, lowering incentives to reform and rebuild those institutions. The second broad concern links to issues around trust. The resulting fatalism causes some to give up on democracy, ceding more control to the elites. The growing imbalance further erodes individuals’ belief in their agency and impact as actors in their democracy. These respondents say that elites’ control over technology systems gives them new tools and tactics to enhance their power, including by weaponizing technology. The first ties to their view that democracy is at risk because those with power seek to maintain their power by building systems that serve them, not the masses. Two main themes emerge in the answers of those who are mostly worried about the impact of technology on democracy. Some responses have been lightly edited for clarity.
This section includes elaboration on each of the most common themes.
A share believe that there will be not be adequate reform in the design and management of technology platforms that government will not respond in the best interests of citizens that the speed, scope and impact of digital tools all work in favor of bad actors and that educational processes and growing citizen awareness of the flaws now emerging in tech systems will not significantly lessen the known harms that networked digital technologies can enable in the next decade. The pessimists about democracy in this canvassing make several arguments and foresee several outcomes.
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