MODERN GLOBAL TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE SOCIO-POLITICAL SPACE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DIGITAL INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

This article is devoted to the newest challenges posed to society by the rapid development of digital communication technologies, especially global social media. The relevance of the topic lies in the fact that social media are constantly strengthening their monopoly as channels of information dissemination and communication platforms. At the same time, the commercial nature of social networks and the focus of IT giants on maximizing profits leads to unforeseen consequences that essentially transform socio-political life around the world. The text examines the main problems associated with the specifics of the functioning of social media and significantly influencing the socio-political sphere starting with the so-called “human factors”, such as the deliberate use of the capabilities of social media by certain interest groups and the psychological characteristics of human behavior that influence formatting of the online space, and ending with the built-in mechanisms of social media, such as recommendation algorithms and the collection and analysis of gigantic volumes of personal data for commercial use, which is increasingly turning into use for political purposes.