Open AccessThoughts on Antisocial Media. How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy by Siva Vaidhyanathan
Author(s) -
Raluca Buturoiu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
romanian journal of communication and public relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.175
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 2344-5440
pISSN - 1454-8100
DOI - 10.21018/rjcpr.2020.1.292
Subject(s) - democracy , social media , political science , media studies , sociology , internet privacy , criminology , law , computer science , politics
Research interests in this area have revolved around illuminating the dark side of social networking sites (especially Facebook and Twitter). And the light thrown has at times been quite harsh. Here are a few examples of how Facebook has been being portrayed since 2016: “the biggest threat to our democracy”, as Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Brittany Kaiser1 says; “a digital gangster destroying democracy” (Cadwalladr, 2019); a tool which is “rotting democracy from within” (DemDigest, 2019); a “machine” which “disconnects us and undermines democracy”. The latter are Siva Vaidhyanathan’s words, and they make for a telling introduction to the analysis he develops in his 2018 book Antisocial Media. How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy.