The Internet as a Public Place: Framing the Debate in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Internet and digital platforms are often portrayed as public spaces, hosting both private conversations and discussions of public interest. Political campaigns are conducted and business transactions are also carried out there. This paper challenges this view by highlighting the differences between the Internet and traditional public places. Instead, it argues that the Internet increasingly resembles a mosaic of private domains controlled by a few powerful entities that dictate the flow of information. This paper examines the issue from the perspective of the benefits that public places provide in modern democratic societies and posits the debate within Habermas’s understanding of the public sphere, providing for differences in how public place is typically perceived regarding the Internet and especially digital platforms. Finally, it outlines the ongoing legislative debate in Bosnia and Herzegovina on this issue, with comparative insights from the legal frameworks of Serbia and Croatia.