The essay contends social media’s key effect is democratization: by stripping elite gatekeepers from media production and distribution, platforms make content more responsive to widespread audience preferences. The resulting populist surge reflects organic demand, not primarily algorithmic manipulation.
— If populism is downstream of newly visible mass preferences, policy fixes that only tweak algorithms miss the cause and elites must confront—and compete with—those preferences directly.
2025.10.07
86% relevant
Gurri’s core claim—that digital networks dismantled elite gatekeeping and unleashed mass insurgencies (updated with Trump and Brexit)—maps directly onto the idea that social media exposes and amplifies public preferences outside legacy filters, driving populist outcomes.
Dan Williams
2025.10.07
100% relevant
The author writes that social media 'radically democratised the public sphere' by 'removing barriers to entry and the influence of elite gatekeepers,' shifting focus from dysfunction to democratization.
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