WEAVING THE FOURTH SPHERE
Let’s be realistic: social media — especially X — is going through a period of conflict and tension. With this new name redefining what used to be Twitter, it is fair to ask what space remains for democracy on platforms financed by big capital and often amplifying anti-democratic discourse.
This is not a rhetorical question. It is the starting point for a broader reflection on the role of the public sphere in times of hyperconnectivity and polarisation.
On the fourth day of the @uclg_org Retreat, @Lorena_Zarate reminded us that digital rights are part of the “new essentials” of a generation of public services that must evolve from “well-being for the people” to “well-being with the people.” That shift means recognising that technology is not neutral — and that it must therefore be governed with criteria rooted in rights and guarantees.
We have concrete examples of what that looks like. Libraries, defended by @IFLA as critical infrastructures for freedom of expression. The demand for spatial justice articulated by Montevideo. Different contexts, different tools — but the same logic: guaranteeing rights in order to sustain democracy in everyday life. And for many of us, nothing is more everyday than the Internet.
Whatever the algorithm may suggest, networks remain an open space — but only if we choose to treat them as such. We cannot simply withdraw from this symbolic and political terrain. As Rocío Lombera put it in her afternoon remarks, perhaps we are facing a “fourth sphere to be woven”: a socio-technological space where the digital and the public intersect, and where democratic governance must find new instruments.
If we do not shape it deliberately, others will. Over the past four days, we have debated the kind of communities we want to build. The digital environment is not exempt from that conversation.
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