Dijital Çağa Demokrasiyi Çağırmak: Cambridge Analytica Skandalı

Tarım toplumundan ağ/bilgi toplumuna geçişe kadar her dönüşüm aşamasında teknolojik ilerleme ile yönetimde şeffaflık arasında doğrudan bir ilişki kurulmuştur. Ancak son yıllarda gelişen Arap baharı, Şili protestoları gibi toplumsal eylemlerin de ışığı altında açık toplum ve şeffaflık söylemlerinin kimi zaman toplumsal ve siyasal gelişmelerle bir araya geldiğinde demokratik yönetimler açısından riskler yarattığı da söylenebilir. Sosyal medyanın siyasi amaçlarla manipüle edilmesi ihtimali bu teknolojik ilerlemenin temelinde yer alan şeffaflık söylemi ile açık bir çelişkiyi de içinde barındırmaktadır. Makalenin konusu; söz konusu şeffaflık söyleminin yarattığı toplumsal ve siyasal risklerin Facebook'un 2018 yılında ortaya çıkan Cambridge Analytica skandalı örneğinde ele alınmasıdır. Çalışmanın teorik kısmında sosyal medyanın toplumsal ilişkilerde pozitif bir vaat olarak ortaya koyduğu şeffaflığın yarattığı güçsüz bireylerin politik alandaki konumu irdelenmiştir. Bu kapsamda Byung Chul Han’ın şeffaflık toplumu eleştirisinden geliştirdiği teorik yaklaşım benimsenerek, Cambridge Analytica skandalı çerçevesinde dijitalleşme ve demokrasi ilişkisi eleştirel incelemeye tabi tutulmuştur.

Calling Democracy to the Digital Age: Case of Cambridge Analytica Scandal

A direct relationship has been established between technological progress and transparency in management at every transformation stage from the agricultural society to the transition to the network / information society. However, it can be said that the discourses of open society and transparency, create risks for societies when they combined with social actions such as the Arab spring, Chilean protests etc. The possibility of manipulating social media for political purposes also includes a clear contradiction with the discourse of transparency, which is the social basis of this technological progress. The subject of the article; an analysis of social and political risks caused by the said transparency discourse which are addressed in Facebook's Cambridge Analytica scandal that emerged in 2018.  In the theoretical part of the study, the position of the individuals created by the transparency discourse and social media as a positive promise in social relations is examined. In this context, the relationship between digitalization and democracy within the framework of Cambridge Analytica scandal has been critically examined by adopting the theoretical approach developed by Byung Chul Han from the criticism of transparency society.

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