Flood the Zone with Shit: Algorithmic Domination in the Modern Republic
John W. Maynor · Social Sciences · 2025
This paper critically examines the risks to democratic institutions and practices posed by disinformation, echo chambers, and filter bubbles within contemporary social media environments. Adopting a modern republican approach and its conception of liberty as nondomination, this paper analyzes the role of algorithms, which curate and shape user experiences, in facilitating these challenges. My argument is that the proliferation of disinformation, echo chambers, and filter bubbles constitutes forms of domination that manipulate vulnerable social media users and imperil democratic ideals and institutions. To counter these risks, I argue for a three-pronged response that cultivates robust institutional and individual forms of antipower by regulating platforms to help protect users from arbitrary interference and empower them to fight back against domination.