Right now is an incredible time to work with technology. Technology is everywhere, in almost every aspect of our lives, shaping and transforming them in all kinds of exciting and unpredictable ways. However, it’s also a time of great concern. Concern for the future, concern over the ways technology is used negatively, and concern about what current technologies could become over time.
Major advancements like generative AI, blockchain and the de-centralised web, 3D printing, and others present great opportunities, but their ability to disrupt and alter society in a more general sense should not be underestimated.
Now is the perfect time to explore the relationship between technology and democracy, to see if we can get a better understanding of how the two influence each other, and what this might mean for the future.
The Power of Social Media
Technology, particularly social media, has dramatically influenced political processes and democratic engagement. Social media platforms such as Twitter and TikTok have transformed how information is disseminated and consumed, often in ways that traditional media cannot match.
During the run-up to the recent US elections, X owner Elon Musk became a central character, openly using his platform and his massive reach on it - he has over 205 million followers - to boost support for his preferred candidate.
Musk's decision to effectively remove moderation on the platform - arguing that freedom of speech is curtailed when content is moderated - means that racist, homophobic and other kinds of terrible content are now in effect acceptable to post on the platform.
This, in itself, could have grave consequences for our ability to have inclusive, mature and sensible discourse, which is, of course, detrimental to society
We should say, however, it's not all bad in the world of social media.
In the past, social media has shown its power to galvanise democratically-focused political movements. The Arab Spring (a series of uprisings that took place across the Middle East and North Africa in the early 2010s) is a prime example where social media was instrumental in mobilising support and action, and while these movements did not all result in dictatorships being replaced by democracy, they certainly helped undemocratic societies move closer towards it.
These platforms helped spread information rapidly, bypassing state-controlled media channels and enabling citizens to organise protests and push for democratic reforms.
Their power was further confirmed when, during the early days of the uprisings in Libya in 2011, the government actually turned off the internet within the country, in the hope it would stop the wave of support that had spread online.
Surveillance and Control
Though today's technology plays a remarkable role in terms of its influence on politics, this is not a new phenomenon.
During the Cold War, technological surveillance played a pivotal role in maintaining control over the people, with East Germany and Russia listening in and intercepting phone calls made to and from their citizens, to ensure grassroots revolutions could not develop into something bigger.
Instances like this mean that nowadays, for some, any attempt to collect information on members of the public should be viewed with the strongest degree of skepticism and as an attempt to control or surveil the public. However, it's a much more complex issue than this.
During the early days of the pandemic, governments around Europe rushed to work with development teams to build apps that would allow them track the spread of the covid-19 virus.
Of course, the pure scale of an app like this is complex from an engineering perspective, but it's also worth acknowledging the fact that each country has a different set of values that had to be factored in to the app’s features, to ensure the app aligned with these values and would therefore actually be used by members of the public, in turn helping to track the spread of the disease.
France, for example, a country known for the complicated relationship between its citizens and those in authority, saw its app built around the anonymous collection of information as if citizens could be identified then it was unlikely to have been adopted by the populace.
Shaping the Narrative
The potential for misinformation and fake news is an ever-present concern that governments and technology companies must navigate carefully.
The line between regulation and censorship is thin, creating a balancing act to ensure the integrity of information without stifling free expression.
Generative AI has added an entirely new layer to this, making it increasingly difficult for people to distinguish between the truth and a fiction that has been fabricated using technology, and perhaps amplified by those using it.
From a developer's perspective, these challenges present opportunities for innovation. Building tools that can efficiently detect and mitigate misinformation - and encourage civil discourse - can help ensure more robust democratic engagement.
The Role of Developers and Programmers
Developers and programmers hold a unique position in the ongoing dialogue between technology and democracy. Their work - whether on social media algorithms, cybersecurity measures, voting machine technology or in some other area of tech - play a critical role in shaping how democratic processes are implemented and protected.
So, while it is an incredible time to work with technology, it’s more important than ever before that tech professionals are mindful of the societal impact of their projects and strive to create technologies that promote transparency, inclusivity, and trust, for the good of democracy.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to hear about the role technology plays in democracy, we recommend you check out this fantastic panel discussion on this very topic from the World Congress 2024, featuring David Simas (Former Advisor to President Obama), Constantijn van Oranje (Special Envoy at Techleap.nl), Vera Futorjanski (CEO & Founder of Veritas Ventures) and Business Insider Germany’s Fanny Jimenez.
