Democracy's Challenge with Digitalization: Echo Chambers, Filter Bubbles and Radicalization

In this study, which deals with the impact of digitalization on democratic political life, the positive and negative effects of digitalization on democratic functioning are tried to be revealed. In this study, the opportunities and risks that digitalization brings for democracy are discussed and the issue is critically addressed with the claim that digitalization has more negative effects for democracy. The expectation that digitalization would lead to more knowledgeable individuals who could access more information, discuss issues more easily and communicate more easily, and that this would facilitate the functioning of democracy has not materialized. In the modern period, humanity has tried to secure rights and freedoms by limiting the powers of the state in the struggle for democracy, human rights and constitutional struggle. In the digital era, the same struggle must be waged not only against the state but also against internet providers and social media companies. Individuals who are confined and surrounded by echo chambers and filter bubbles are less aware of the general state of affairs in society as they do not have access to general information. In addition, the fact that internet providers and social media companies feed this situation has led individuals to take a one-sided view of events and to be fed this one-sided view. This situation has led to the radicalization of individuals and the loss of the integrity of society, leading to cyber Balkanization, political radicalization and the emergence of new tribalism in virtual environments. As a result of this situation, it has led to the disappearance of the structure in which the common knowledge and problems of a community are shared, the division of societies into hostile sections that do not understand each other, and the erosion of the concept of nation, which is perhaps the most important element of modernism