From Utopia to Dystopia: Will the Internet Save or Destroy Democracy?

An agenda for responsible technology policy in Canada

“…The arrival of the internet in 1991 brought hopes for a freer society. Early narratives surrounding the expansion of internet technologies were largely positive, driven by a libertarian spirit highlighting the beneficial features of information technology for democracy, social and economic progress (Korvela, 2021). By the mid-2010s, this optimism had dissipated due to several international developments, including the Snowden revelations of widespread state surveillance of citizens, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal resulting from the unwitting exposure of vast troves of personal data collected by social media platforms to influence electoral outcomes.…”