Comparative Analysis of Cases of Technocratic Governance and Deliberative-Democratic Self-Rule in Internet Sphere

⎯In this study, two approaches to the formation of the Internet sphere, compared with each other, are analyzed. The first technocratic approach is approved in cybernetic-system methodology, bases on technocratic management of the society and implies the total control of the Internet sphere in the interests of the state system, suppression of the individual personality through “programming” one’s consciousness. In this approach, “the system of social credit” in China serves as the case under analysis. The second deliberative-democratic approach originates from phenomenology and substantiates an egalitarian model of democracy, which implies a universal discussion and importance of the meanings, communicated by each person in the Internet sphere. The author analyzes the case of online-deliberative forums, serving to reveal the opinions of the citizens themselves and to define the genuine public opinion. The advantages of the second approach are pointed out