Rethinking Big Tech: Toward a More Democratic Internet

The current architecture of the internet reflects a tension between, on the one hand, an unprecedented level of content creation and amplification by decentralized users and, on the other, overall governance by a small number of profit-making platforms via algorithms and content moderators operating largely out of public view. Part of the Andrea Mitchell Center’s Democracy and Emergent Technology series, this panel features Tarleton Gillespie (Microsoft Research) and Rachel Kuo (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign). They grapple with social media’s problematic architecture from both ends – from the hidden levers of social media platforms, to the possibilities (and perils) of harnessing the chaotic energies of user communities – in order to envision what a more transparent, equal, and democratic internet might look like. Moderated by Jess Lingel (Annenberg School for Communication).

Presented by the Andrea Mitchell Center and Perry World House.