Mass public opinion: algorithmic colonisation and synthetisation of the public sphere

Carlos Saura García, investigador predoctoral, Departamento de Filosofía y Sociología, Universitat Jaume i de Castelló (España). saurac@uji.es. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6047-8573 

Patrici Calvo, profesor Titular de Filosofía moral. Departamento de Filosofía y Sociología. Universtat Jaume I de Castelló (España). calvop@uji.es. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3228-9019 

This paper examines the strategic change in the manipulation of public opinion through algorithmic colonisation, technological imperialism, data generation and the creation of synthetic content. This is utilised by government organisations, big tech corporations and economic powers to threaten the integrity of democracy via the alteration of the processes of rationalisation and meaning-making, as well as the communication flows involved, which leads to the appearance of social pathologies, anomalies and distortions in the digital public sphere. The aim of this paper is to show the main strategies related to disruptive digital technologies for the creation of meaning and the manipulation of public opinion and, especially, critique the impacts and challenges for public opinion and democracy underlying this new algorithmised, synthetised and mass democratic context.

Key words: synthetisation, mass public opinion, digital public sphere, algosphere, tyranny of the majority, generative artificial intelligence (AI), democracy

How to cite this article: Saura García, Carlos y Calvo, Patrici. «Opinión pública masiva: colonización algorítmica y sintetificación de la esfera pública». Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, n.º 138 (diciembre de 2024), p. 73-96. DOI: doi.org/10.24241/rcai.2024.138.3.73

Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, nº 138, pp. 73-96
Quadrimestral (September-December 2024)
ISSN:1133-6595 | E-ISSN:2013-035X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24241/rcai.2024.138.3.73

Receipt date:  01.04.24  ;  Acceptance date: 01.07.2024

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