From emancipation to disinformation: Public dissent and its evaluation in change

Democracy thrives on disagreement, dissent, and the ability to handle them in an orderly manner.For democracies to function and societies to flourish, it is essential for them to have arenas of exchange-spaces where differing opinions can be voiced, alternative perspectives may be articulated, and the status quo of the social order as well as our understanding of social life are able to be challenged.Hence, the public articulation of dissent represents a fundamental pillar of deliberative democracy.The formation of opinions and sustainable decision-making processes require open debate among conflicting viewpoints within the public sphere (Habermas 2022, pp.151-152).In recent times, digitalization and the implementation of the Internet has significantly expanded the avenues for the public expression of dissent, enabling a diverse range of actors to participate in the discourse.However, this expansion can also give way to the emergence of "dissonant" (Pfetsch et al. 2018) or even "disrupted" (Bennett and Pfetsch 2018) public spheres marked by political polarization and fragmentation.Dissonance and disruption are not inherently negatives, as they can serve as important resources for reflection or renewal.However, not all voices