Social Media, News Media, and the Democratic Deficit. Can the Blockchain Make a Difference?

Abstract

This paper addresses the following main question: In what respect does the blockchain technology have potentials to alleviate and/or intensify some of the problems of the information and communication sector? Divided into four sections, the paper first explores the democratic deficit within the context of an informed citizenry. This section includes a study of the current public sphere, post-truth politics and populism. Second, it addresses the current information and communication system. The section investigates today’s social media, and an ever-changing digital news media landscape. Third, it explores four prevalent approaches toward reforming the information and communication system. These are fact-checking and debunking, media literacy, regulation and policy reform, and self-regulation. The fourth section addresses the central question of the study concerning blockchain technology. This disruptive database technology has potential to offer solutions to regaining trust in the information ecosystem yet like other approaches, placed within existing socio-economic structures, falls short in reversing the democratic deficit.