Mads Vestergaard

Philosopher and postdoc at Roskilde University in Denmark

Mads Vestergaard is philosopher and postdoc at Roskilde University in Denmark researching how digitalization affects trust. He holds a PhD in digitalization and democracy and has published books on the societal and epistemic effects of digitalization. This includes a critical investigation of the changes of the media environments and attention economies – see Reality Lost (open access) – and an exploration of the threats to democracy, autonomy, rule of law, and trust posed by increasing digital surveillance in the (Danish) book Digital totalitarisme.

“Maintaining Trust in Digitalized Societies”

The technological development and increasing digitalization of our societies and everyday lives risk to erode different kinds and relations of trust. The novel media landscapes – in which social media platforms play a significant part, and generative AI takes production of misinformation to the next level – are highly conductive of narratives of distrust fueling both polarization between groups of citizens and contribute to eroding the institutional trust in public authorities. In addition, digital surveillance of the citizens also poses a threat to trust – both to citizens’ trust in the authorities and to the trust of the authorities in the citizens, fundamental in democratic societies, which in increasingly supplanted by control. How are we to meet the challenges to trust posed by the rapid digital development?