It appears that the world is heading toward a near-worst case scenario in the coming months for representative democracy. The combined disruptive nature of social media and a global pandemic is creating a pressure point that should lead policymakers to fear for the future of democratic institutions. In the same way there is an acknowledgement of the risk of this contagion to our way of life in the short-run, the destabilising effect of social media must be acknowledged in the long-run if democracy is to be defended.
This is indeed not just an Australian phenomenon, with continued Russian interference in American elections, even before a mention of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, harming democratic rights and institutions.
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