Rethinking Digital Public Spaces for Democracy – Statement by Gérman Oscar Johannsen

Описание: Public spaces are important for democracy as they allow us to speak, build relationships, and exchange opinions. But the rise of global social media platforms has led to digital public spaces which are highly personalized, algorithmically moderated, and increasingly influenced by generative AI content. Do these technologies foster discourse, or do they just create noise that distracts?

In March 2025, the humanet3 group invited experts from law, economics, philosophy, and social sciences to discuss the state of digital public spaces, how they relate to democracy, and how they should be shaped for the future.

We asked selected participants the same question: How do you envision a digital public space that benefits democracy?

In this video, Gérman Oscar Johannsen shares his insights. In his PhD, he examines the legal implications of the use of pricing algorithms in digital markets, with a focus on the interplay between EU competition and consumer laws. He has also developed lines of research on big data merger control, Internet regulation, and data governance to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

About humanet3
humanet3 is an interdisciplinary research group which analyzes, deconstructs, and contributes to initiatives aiming at a human-centered digital transformation, as proposed by the European Commission in its European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade. The humanet3 project has been established as a joint research group by the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development.

More information:
More about Gérman: https://www.ip.mpg.de/en/persons/joha...
humanet3: https://humanet3.mpg.de/
Workshop “Re-imagining Digital Public Spaces for Democracy – Interrelations and Forces”: https://humanet3.mpg.de/our-work/work...

#humanet3 #SpacesOfTrust #Pluralism #RegulatoryRules