Are open international information flows compatible with democratic societies? A few years ago, no one would have thought to ask this question. Although there was an extensive literature describing how open information flows might destabilize illiberal regimes, most scholars assumed that these information flows supported liberal domestic order and vice versa.
Now, however, there is contention within liberal states themselves over the benefits of the Liberal International Information Order (LIIO)—the arrangements through which communication and data are governed in the global economy. US public trust in platform companies such as Facebook has collapsed, while senior European officials have warned that these companies are undermining democracy through “privatized de facto manipulation of who you’re going to vote for.” Such problems are leading policymakers to question norms of openness and self-regulatory governance arrangements.
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