Algorithmic gatewatching and its implications

This response to the article ‘Conceptualising the “Algorithmic Public Opinion”: Public Opinion Formation in the Digital Age’ by Alessandro Gandini, Silvia Keeling, and Urbano Reviglio considers the concept of algorithmic public opinion and highlights that while the algorithms of digital and social media platforms and associated information and communication infrastructures now exert a substantial influence on how public opinion formation unfolds (the process) and what public opinion patterns emerge as a result (the product), these algorithms are by no means the sole determinant of process and product. It argues instead that the ordinary users of these platforms – and they are active users of these communicative spaces, not just passive ‘audiences’ for the communicative efforts of others – retain significantly more agency than this article's discussion affords them.