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The Networked Public
Networks, whether in the form of Facebook and Twitter or WhatsApp groups, are exerting immense,
unchecked power in subverting political discourse and polarizing the public in India.
If people’s understandings of their political reality can be so easily manipulated through misinformation,
then what role can they play in fostering deliberative democracies? Amber Sinha asks this muchignored
and often-misunderstood question in his book The Networked Public. In search for an
answer, he investigates the history of misinformation and the biases that make the public susceptible
to it, how digital platforms and their governance impacts the public’s behaviour on them, as well
as the changing face of political targeting in this data-driven world.
The book weaves sharp analysis with academic rigour to show that while the public can be irrational
and gullible, their actions—be it mob violence or spreading fake news—are symptoms of deeper
social malaise and products of their technological contexts.
The Networked Public is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how social media
and the Internet is transforming democracy not only in India, but across the world.
unchecked power in subverting political discourse and polarizing the public in India.
If people’s understandings of their political reality can be so easily manipulated through misinformation,
then what role can they play in fostering deliberative democracies? Amber Sinha asks this muchignored
and often-misunderstood question in his book The Networked Public. In search for an
answer, he investigates the history of misinformation and the biases that make the public susceptible
to it, how digital platforms and their governance impacts the public’s behaviour on them, as well
as the changing face of political targeting in this data-driven world.
The book weaves sharp analysis with academic rigour to show that while the public can be irrational
and gullible, their actions—be it mob violence or spreading fake news—are symptoms of deeper
social malaise and products of their technological contexts.
The Networked Public is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how social media
and the Internet is transforming democracy not only in India, but across the world.
224 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2019
7 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 1, 2021
A lot has been written on the effects of social media/Big Tech on politics and democracy, but most of these are from a U.S. perspective. This book attempts to fill a gap by analyzing effects on Indian users.
Sinha starts from the vantage point of John Dewey in the famous Lippmann-Dewey debates. In that, Dewey argues that although the public is irrational, its defining feature is that it's the sum of its parts. This is one of Sinha's central thesis; the public responds to misinformation that aligns with its biases and therefore any measure to counter misinformation must address this underlying mechanism. The book cites multiple incidents in India highlighting problems of 'misinformation menace' and 'limitations of fact-checking' at scale.
Sinha then turns to problems unique to India (as opposed to the West, that is). He outlines how political targeting that came into global view after the Cambridge-Analytica scandal also affected data-driven political consulting firms in India, how a lax handling of electoral data assists voter profiling and how the state uses its 'machinery to further party agenda'. Sinha blames the ongoing 'democratic backsliding' on the phenomenon of social media and online messaging platforms being primary sources of information. The book ends by noting that only surface-level regulations are insufficient and scrutiny of political advertising and funding are necessary.
I felt the book was a bit all over the place. Sinha's main points weren't as transparent. Some topics warranted more discussion for e.g. Competition commission, the apparent dichotomy of the relevance of social media/misinformation being a problem in a country with internet penetration less than 40 percent and hardly 40 million Indian Twitter users. Some of his skepticism on the effectiveness of political targeting seemed surprising but I haven't delved deep into it.
Overall, I still recommend this book. It's one of the few that takes an Indian perspective. It doesn't just throw incidents one after the other, but also delves into some first-principles reasoning.
Sinha starts from the vantage point of John Dewey in the famous Lippmann-Dewey debates. In that, Dewey argues that although the public is irrational, its defining feature is that it's the sum of its parts. This is one of Sinha's central thesis; the public responds to misinformation that aligns with its biases and therefore any measure to counter misinformation must address this underlying mechanism. The book cites multiple incidents in India highlighting problems of 'misinformation menace' and 'limitations of fact-checking' at scale.
Sinha then turns to problems unique to India (as opposed to the West, that is). He outlines how political targeting that came into global view after the Cambridge-Analytica scandal also affected data-driven political consulting firms in India, how a lax handling of electoral data assists voter profiling and how the state uses its 'machinery to further party agenda'. Sinha blames the ongoing 'democratic backsliding' on the phenomenon of social media and online messaging platforms being primary sources of information. The book ends by noting that only surface-level regulations are insufficient and scrutiny of political advertising and funding are necessary.
I felt the book was a bit all over the place. Sinha's main points weren't as transparent. Some topics warranted more discussion for e.g. Competition commission, the apparent dichotomy of the relevance of social media/misinformation being a problem in a country with internet penetration less than 40 percent and hardly 40 million Indian Twitter users. Some of his skepticism on the effectiveness of political targeting seemed surprising but I haven't delved deep into it.
Overall, I still recommend this book. It's one of the few that takes an Indian perspective. It doesn't just throw incidents one after the other, but also delves into some first-principles reasoning.
April 26, 2020
The book talks about how social media is changing the way the political landscape and democracy work. How political parties use it to subvert democracies. It also shines a light on the tech behemoths such as Google, Twitter and Facebook who use the intermediary liability safe harbour law to escape any form of mediation or regulation.
The different tactics that political parties use to win the election and the culpability of social media in it (for forming opinion a.k.a manufacturing consent) is explored. It also documents the rise of misinformation and half-hearted attempt to fight them from both the tech behemoths and the political class. Overall a quick read but many details are lacking and many of the technical topics are not explored in detail. Possibly could have a report with better editing rather than a book.
The different tactics that political parties use to win the election and the culpability of social media in it (for forming opinion a.k.a manufacturing consent) is explored. It also documents the rise of misinformation and half-hearted attempt to fight them from both the tech behemoths and the political class. Overall a quick read but many details are lacking and many of the technical topics are not explored in detail. Possibly could have a report with better editing rather than a book.
March 30, 2020
For the author democracy is a group of god enlightened aristocrats that lead the masses for their [the masses] good. And now, somehow the masses have gotten the idea that they might have something to say. And that makes Sinha upset.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews