Hacker News with Generative AI: Democracy

The Path to American Authoritarianism (foreignaffairs.com)
Donald Trump’s first election to the presidency in 2016 triggered an energetic defense of democracy from the American establishment. But his return to office has been met with striking indifference. Many of the politicians, pundits, media figures, and business leaders who viewed Trump as a threat to democracy eight years ago now treat those concerns as overblown—after all, democracy survived his first stint in office. In 2025, worrying about the fate of American democracy has become almost passé.

Politics, United States, Authoritarianism, Democracy

77 points by pjmlp 8 days ago | 37 comments

South Korea's Democracy Saved Itself (2024) (carnegieendowment.org)

South Korea, Democracy, Politics, International Relations

64 points by huijzer 28 days ago | 75 comments

Korean democracy was nearly toppled by its president. It was saved by its people (theguardian.com)
Despite scandal after scandal, Koreans have shown their solidarity with one another, and the resilience of their institutions

Politics, Korea, Democracy, Social Movements

13 points by huijzer 29 days ago | 2 comments

Right populists deliberately undermining democracy with misinformation (uva.nl)
The spread of misinformation has emerged as a major concern in recent years. While research has long examined misinformation as a phenomenon resulting from the rise of social media, a new study from the University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam now suggests that misinformation should be understood as the result of a political strategy pursued by radical-right populist parties. The research was published in the International Journal of Press/Politics.

Politics, Misinformation, Democracy, Social Media

9 points by nabla9 30 days ago | 0 comments

The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy (docpop.org)
On the day of Trump’s second presidential inauguration, Instagram censored search results for the most popular hashtags associated with American Democrats, like “#Democrat”, “#PresidentBiden”, “#VoteBlue”, “#MichelleObama”, “#Kamala”, and dozens more.

Social Media, Censorship, Politics, Democracy

127 points by klez 30 days ago | 75 comments

Big tech is picking apart European democracy (theguardian.com)
Elon Musk’s latest attempts at direct political interference illustrate the grave danger that Europe is facing. He has suggested overthrowing the UK government, asking if “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government”. Three days after that, he hosted Germany’s far-right candidate for chancellor in forthcoming federal elections in a livestream discussion on the social media platform X, which he owns. It is likely that his rigging of X’s algorithm helped push both into millions of people’s feeds.

Politics, Europe, Social Media, Democracy, Technology

6 points by nickcotter 38 days ago | 2 comments

Meta is ushering in a 'world without facts', says Nobel peace prize winner (theguardian.com)
The Nobel peace prize winner Maria Ressa has said Meta’s decision to end factchecking on its platforms and remove restrictions on certain topics means “extremely dangerous times” lie ahead for journalism, democracy and social media users.

Meta, Social Media, Journalism, Democracy, Censorship

16 points by zfg 41 days ago | 15 comments

How Silicon Valley is disrupting democracy (technologyreview.com)
Two books explore the price we’ve paid in handing over unprecedented power to Big Tech—and explain why it’s imperative we start taking it back.

Politics, Technology, Big Tech, Democracy

43 points by clumsysmurf 67 days ago | 29 comments

How Silicon Valley is disrupting democracy (technologyreview.com)
Two books explore the price we’ve paid in handing over unprecedented power to Big Tech—and explain why it’s imperative we start taking it back.

Technology, Politics, Big Tech, Democracy

19 points by gnabgib 70 days ago | 5 comments

You Can Have Billionaires or You Can Have Democracy (2021) (jacobin.com)
The billionaire class isn’t just a group of people who happen to be superrich. It’s a dynastic oligarchy with a single overriding objective: controlling the government to protect its inherited wealth.

Politics, Wealth Inequality, Democracy

26 points by wahnfrieden 87 days ago | 16 comments

Hong Kong Jails Benny Tai for 10 Years in Longest Security Law Sentence (bloomberg.com)
A Hong Kong court sentenced former democracy advocate Benny Tai to 10 years in prison, the longest sentence ever meted out using a China-imposed security law, in a move likely to further deter dissent in the finance hub and worsen ties with Western governments.

Hong Kong, Politics, Law, China, Democracy

68 points by JumpCrisscross 94 days ago | 9 comments

The Dark, Unspoken Promise of Trump's Return (nytimes.com)
For those bewildered by why so many Americans apparently voted against the values of liberal democracy, Balint Magyar has a useful formulation. “Liberal democracy,” he says, “offers moral constraints without problem-solving” — a lot of rules, not a lot of change — while “populism offers problem-solving without moral constraints.”

Politics, United States, Trump, Democracy, Populism

4 points by whack 98 days ago | 0 comments

Journalism's fight for survival in a postliterate democracy (mattdpearce.substack.com)
The truth is going out of business as technology turns us into a folk-story society, ripe for influence by a demagogue.

Journalism, Democracy, Technology, Social Media, Influence

32 points by yurivish 100 days ago | 70 comments

Oligarchs now in full control of America? What does Hacker News think of this? (ycombinator.com)
The multi-millionaire and billionaire class have long put their thumbs on the scale of democracy through donations to the political class with the hope of gaining influence and shaping policy. But Tuesday's election outcome brings about a big shift that is different it seems to me from the past. US policy and democracy it seems to me has been handed directly to a small cast of characters led by Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Jeff Bejos and perhaps the Murdoch family.

Politics, Democracy, Wealth Inequality, Technology, Media

24 points by Sol2Sol 105 days ago | 28 comments

Historians Predicted the Failure of Democracy (2019) (nationalinterest.org)
At the dawn of democracy, Plato foresaw an unfortunate end.

History, Democracy, Political Philosophy

6 points by mfkhalil 106 days ago | 2 comments

Georgia Shows Why Ukraine Must Win (phillipspobrien.substack.com)
Well what we are witnessing in Georgia is both depressingly predictable and yet horrifying at the same time. A nation that wanted to be democratic, whose people saw their future in the West, in Europe, is having their freedom corrupted in front of their (and our) eyes. Its shows how fragile democratic systems can be in the face of unopposed brutality.

Georgia, Ukraine, Politics, Democracy, International Relations

10 points by JumpCrisscross 118 days ago | 0 comments

The Army of Election Officials Ready to Reject the Vote (nytimes.com)
A movement driven by disinformation about Trump’s 2020 defeat has taken over many of the boards that certify elections. It could cause chaos in the weeks ahead.

Elections, Politics, Misinformation, Disinformation, Democracy

18 points by ChrisArchitect 119 days ago | 3 comments

A new book shows how the power of companies is destabilizing governance (hai.stanford.edu)
In The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley, Marietje Schaake, a Stanford HAI Policy Fellow, reveals how tech companies are encroaching on governmental roles, posing a threat to the democratic rule of law.

Politics, Democracy, Technology, Silicon Valley

333 points by alexzeitler 122 days ago | 344 comments

"Switzerland is as deeply polarized as the USA" (news.uzh.ch)
In many democracies, those on the left and right of the political divide are drifting further apart. Political discourse is increasingly spiteful and hostile. Silja Häusermann and Simon Bornschier from the Department of Political Science at UZH explain why this is the case and whether it poses a threat to democracy.

Politics, Polarization, Democracy, Social Science

15 points by sharpshadow 143 days ago | 16 comments

Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy (2014) (bbc.com)
The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite.

Politics, United States, Democracy, Oligarchy, Research

21 points by _tk_ 156 days ago | 26 comments

Stanford ECON295/CS323 I 2024 - AI and Democracy, Lawrence Lessig [video] (youtube.com)

Artificial Intelligence, Democracy, Education, Stanford, Video

9 points by mindcrime 162 days ago | 0 comments

It happened there: how democracy died in Hungary (vox.com)
A new kind of authoritarianism is taking root in Europe — and there are warning signs for America.

Politics, Hungary, Democracy, Authoritarianism, Europe

12 points by Anon84 162 days ago | 1 comments

Voters' Yearning for a Dictator Is a Danger to the Country (reason.com)

Politics, Democracy, Social Commentary

16 points by seydor 168 days ago | 19 comments

Elon Musk supports replacing democracy with government of high-status males (independent.co.uk)

Elon Musk, Politics, Democracy, Gender

24 points by isaacfrond 171 days ago | 22 comments

We can have democracy or we can have Facebook, but we can't have both (2020) (the.ink)

Social Media, Politics, Technology, Democracy

5 points by colinprince 174 days ago | 1 comments

Why Democracy Is Mathematically Impossible [video] (youtube.com)