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SYTP: Symposium Tipping Points in Social and Climate Systems

SYTP 1: Tipping Points in Social and Climate Systems

SYTP 1.5: Hauptvortrag

Donnerstag, 12. März 2026, 17:15–17:45, HSZ/AUDI

The complex interplay between democracy and platform power — •Philipp Lorenz-Spreen — Center Synergy of Systems, TU Dresden, Germany

Information and communication technology has undergone dramatic developments over the last two decades. Increasing interconnectedness has led to more self-organized public debates, platforms and their algorithms have gained new power over discourse, and generative AI has made content fabrication easier than ever. But it has also given research new tools to quantify precisely these systemic changes. Detailed data from social media allows us to measure and model their network structures and dynamics. Against this background, we ask: What is really changing, what does science know about the connection between the crises of democracy and the worldwide use of digital and social media? A number of political behaviors appear to be influenced by the use of digital media, such as increasing polarization or declining trust in institutions. Our findings show that while there is agreement in the literature on some of the relationships, these vary across the world and, above all, the underlying mechanisms by which these dimensions are linked are still unknown. A better understanding of these systems is critical for civil society in democracies worldwide, and I will conclude with a methodological outlook on how we are currently trying to explore these missing puzzle pieces.

Keywords: Social media; Democracy; Complex Systems