On Monday 29/06/2026, EDMO BELUX welcomed Professor Stephan Lewandowsky for a webinar on the problematic relationship between the Internet, especially the engagement-based business model of social media platforms, and democracy.
Several scholars have opined that the Internet, especially the engagement-based business model of social media platforms, is incompatible with democracy. The term “surveillance capitalism” has been used to describe this business model. Professor Lewandowsky reviewed key elements supporting the assertion that the Internet, in its current form, is indeed antithetical to democracy, such as the network effect, the attention economy and asymmetric algorithmic amplification. He complemented these elements with some leads to develop an Internet effectively compatible with democracy. His approach rested in part on the material recently published in a report for the European Commission, entitled Fractured Reality.
The lecture was hosted by Sabri Derinöz. Enjoy the full recording below and subscribe to our newsletter to learn about our future events.
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Professor Stephan Lewandowsky is a cognitive scientist at the University of Bristol whose research centers on the tension between online architectures and democracy. He has published hundreds of peer-reviewed articles and is currently funded by the European Research Council and by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.