PD Dr. Jan-Hinrik Schmidt explains in an event organized by the Regional Youth Council of Hamburg the importance of social media as a source of news for young people. He further explains how social media shape the formation of opinions and how we, as individuals and as a society, are called upon to maintain our democratic cohesion.
In his presentation “Zwischen Partizipationsversprechen und Algorithmenmacht” [Between the Promise of Participation and the Power of Algorithms], he outlines what social media do to us as people – and what we do with social media. Does the diversity of available information and the opportunity for democratic exchange increase? Or do we instead end up with “filter bubbles” and disinformation campaigns that divide society?
