Columbia World Projects and IGP Host Panel Discussion on Reshaping Social Media for the Public Good

As concerns grow about social media’s role in fueling polarization and undermining democratic discourse, digital ethics scholars, online safety activists, and policymakers are confronting questions about how to reimagine better online spaces that serve the public good.

On November 25, Columbia University welcomed Audrey Tang, Taiwan's former Minister of Digital Affairs, and Eli Pariser, co-founder of New_Public, a group dedicated to building digital public spaces where people can thrive and connect, for a panel discussion. Hosted by Columbia World Projects (CWP), the event was co-sponsored by the Institute of Global Politics (IGP), All Tech is Human, and the Data Science Institute at Columbia University. Camille François, an associate professor of practice at SIPA and IGP-affiliated faculty member, moderated the discussion. Panelists outlined the shortcomings of the current social media landscape and shared their visions for alternative models.

“If we're to think constructively about how to improve the political culture of democracy in the 21st century and social structures that are needed to sustain it, we'll need to think deeply about how to design a set of digital spaces that take a very different form from those that we have today,” said Thomas Asher, Director of Research and Engagement at CWP, in his opening remarks.

Pariser reflected on his early career as an activist and entrepreneur, acknowledging the limitations of the lofty promises once made about the internet's potential to create a global public square. In the early 2000s, he helped launch MoveOn.org, where he pioneered the practice of online citizen engagement while leading the organization’s campaign against the war in Iraq. His 2011 book The Filter Bubble introduced a now-ubiquitous term to describe how social media algorithms can isolate and divide people.

Over time, Pariser's initial optimism about the internet’s power gave way to deeper concerns about its structural flaws and the polarizing effects of dominant social media models. He argued that today’s internet, driven by social media platforms defined by algorithms and business incentives, has failed to deliver on the promise of a global public square. Instead, these platforms have fostered what Pariser called "personalized isolation” in a landscape where a handful of tech giants hold outsized control over the flow of information and the ability of users to participate in public life.

"There is not conceptually or literally such a thing as a global space," Pariser said. "You're occupying a much smaller space that is defined through the lens of that algorithm."

Tang's experiences in Taiwan offered a compelling counterpoint. She got her start as a hacker, but went on to join the government she had challenged, playing a pivotal role in transforming the country’s approach to digital democracy. During the 2014 Sunflower Movement protests, she set up livestreams to help demonstrators occupying the Taiwanese parliament building broadcast their message. The government then recruited Tang and other young activists to serve as what she described as “reverse mentors” advising policymakers on how to better listen to and incorporate citizen input.

Over the following years, this collaborative approach helped rebuild public trust in the government, with approval ratings rising significantly. Tang described how, as Minister of Digital Affairs, she and her team used techniques like “bridging algorithms” and “shared facts” platforms to reveal common ground and foster more constructive dialogue. "The polarization mostly happens in people's heads," Tang said. "If you do show people an actual division, it's almost never as great as what’s in people's minds.”

Tang's work shows how digital tools can be used for genuine civic engagement, rather than simply amplifying division or circulating misinformation. Her experience in Taiwan informed her broader vision of “plurality technology”—using digital tools to promote collaboration across social and cultural differences to fuel progress instead of conflict, a concept and process she outlines in her new book, Plurality.

Pariser and Tang are both now focused on building alternative models for digital spaces. Pariser's New_Public initiative is exploring ways to construct and scale online public spaces that prioritize community-building, information sharing, and democratic values over profit motives. Tang is working on bringing technology that would allow users to prove their civic identities while safeguarding their data on the re-popularized platform Bluesky.

The conversation ended on a rousing note, with Pariser and Tang highlighting the need for “radical imagination,” entrepreneurship, and an interdisciplinary approach to addressing the challenges facing social media today.