The internet allows us to skirt the responsibilities and ignore the barriers all too easily. Anyone can shout fire in our crowded digital theatre without fearing the consequences. And many do: hate speech has flourished on the internet sensitive personal information is stolen and traded over the counter, and all sorts of extremist groups have found a comfortable home online. For example, the New Zealand mosque shooter cited and attempted to fuel more of extremist groups. Similarly, a UN reporter stated that in Myanmar, anti-Rohingya forces used Facebook to spread rumours that spurred ethnic cleansing. Therefore, internet platforms are vulnerable to radicalisation group who prey on intolerance, peer pressure, and social disaffection. As a result, Democracies across the world are being compromised.
It is just as easy to cite examples of how the internet has strengthened democratic institutions, making it easier for citizens to monitor their elected representatives or acquire more information about a given political or social issue. There is no denying that the internet has a brighter side. However, this does not overrule out its darker side. The internet unleashes processes that strengthen and weaken democracy simultaneously; often these processes are so qualitatively different that it is impossible to evaluate them next to each other, let alone decide which of the two is the more dominant. The debate about the impact of the internet on authoritarian states often falls into a similar intellectual trap, with cyber-pessimists assuming that the web is bound to favour dictators, who will use it for propaganda and surveillance, and cyber-optimists assuming that it is bound to favour democratic and pro-Western opponents, who will use it for social mobilisation.
The internet favours those who seek to advance democracy. The effect of the internet in one geographic location lead people to see clearly what is happening elsewhere in their region. For example, after dramatic events in Tunisia and Egypt, people were in the streets in Libya and Bahrain. Similarly in India, people across the country protested against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill.
