Bremen starts initiative: Social networks for strong democracy!

Bremen starts initiative: Social networks for strong democracy!

The University of Bremen has developed into a pioneer in Germany by joining the "Save Social" initiative. This movement, which now gathers around 250,000 supporters, loudly raises their voice against the dominance of great American and Chinese platforms. According to Buten and inner in this tendency sees a serious threat to democratic structures and open communication on the Internet.

More and more voices from different areas, including science, art and journalism, support the initiative. The rector of the University of Bremen, Jutta Günther, emphasizes how important it is to actively strengthen alternative platforms. Their university has been on duty X (formerly Twitter) for two years and instead rely on a decentralized social network-a step that also also in heise.de is discussed.

the petition and its demands

The initiative goes beyond the university and recently requested additional support in a petition that is under the motto "Reclosing the Internet". Around one hundred actors from culture, business and the media are involved and call for strengthening the development and promotion of alternative social networks. Public institutions should provide content for these platforms as well as for the well -known large networks. Heise.de reported by prominent signatories such as Jan Delay, Marc-Uwe Kling and Nadia Zaboura, who are also committed to the concerns of this important initiative.

The ten central demands of the petition include the strengthening of alternatives and the structural promotion of decentralized platforms such as mastodone. The aim is to reduce the influences of large corporations and to strengthen democracy and social exchange. Because while social media offer the opportunity to spread content and promote active citizens, on the other hand, they are also criticized because they often use non -transparent algorithms and serve as a platform for misinformation.

A look into the future

The discussion about social media is more current than ever. As bpb.de exist as well as risks. Social media can increase political participation, but also lead to the fragmentation of society. Young people in particular use these platforms intensively, while older generations are rather reserved.

The area of ​​tension between democratic exchange and the risk of disinformation remains a central topic. According to various studies, social media have the potential to promote both joint action and division, whereby the type of use is decisive.

The "Save Social" initiative could be the key to how we communicate and work together in the future. The challenges are great, but with the collective will of educational institutions, artists: inside and civil society there is hope of making the Internet a place of open, fair exchange. The next steps will show whether this path is actually taken.