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Breaking the Silence: Amplifying Pluralist Voices to Safeguard Democracy

CORDIS · observation · Publication date unknown

eas by silencing opposing views to undermine support for liberal democracies. This minority, by being highly vocal and active, creates the illusion of representing a larger share of society. Bots and generative AI amplify this illusion, allowing the minority to shape public discourse and erode support for liberal democracy. This phenomenon reflects the ‘spiral of silence’ theory, which posits that individuals refrain from expressing their views when they perceive the majority to oppose them. However, robust, causal evidence testing this mechanism and its effect on liberal democratic behaviour is lacking. Equally unanswered is how to reverse this trend. PLUDEM addresses this gap by testing whether the ‘spiral of silence’ explains the silencing of pluralist voices and whether this process can be reversed to revive liberal democratic discourse online. The project hypothesises that increasing the visibility of pluralist voices in prominent debates will encourage silenced groups, including women and minorities, to re-engage, promoting pluralist political expression and strengthening democ

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recordType

award

status

SIGNED

region

EU

value

325434.9

unit

EUR