The 2020 US Presidential Election in the Context of the Platformisation of Political Communication: Algorithmic Public Spheres and Data-Based Campaigning
Election campaigns can be understood as a catalyst for the transformation of political communication. The presidential election campaigns in the USA in particular are exemplary for developments that will subsequently also manifest themselves in Germany, for example. The main driver of this transformation of campaign communication and organisation is digitalisation and, in particular, an “algorithmic public” constituted by platforms.
Against this background, phenomena such as political advertising on platforms and their rules for election-related content are examined. The analysis is guided both by an interest in innovations and their critical reflection with regard to democratic expectations of the political public sphere: What changes can be identified and, if necessary, problematised here, especially in comparison to the 2016 US election campaign?
Research focus
- Political communication
- Digital platforms
- Public sphere
- Participation
Curriculum Vitae
- 04/2015-04/2017: Research assistant at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) Essen
- since 12/2011: Freelance author, lecturer and political scientist
- 04/1998-03/2011: Research assistant at the Institute of Political Science at the Justus Liebig University of Gießen (including in the Collaborative Research Centre “Memory Cultures”, and Principal Investigator at the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture)
- 07/1999: Doctorate on the topic “The techno scene. A youth cultural phenomenon from a social science perspective”
- 10/1989-02/1995: Master’s degree in political science at the Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen
Lectures and publications
- “Political communication: the role of social media platforms in the 2020 US election campaign”. Contribution for the Federal Agency for Civic Education (1.9.2020)(https://www.bpb.de/internationales/amerika/usa/314787/social-media-plattformen-im-us-wahlkampf).
- “How do you perceive the current Democratic public sphere?” Interview with the Grimme Lab (07.2020).(https://www.grimme-lab.de/2020/07/20/interview-mit-dr-erik-meyer-politikwissenschaftler/).
- “Between Participation and Platformisation: Political Communication in the Digital Society”. Impulse at the online conference “du. digital. demokratisch: Verantwortungsvolle Partizipation unter dem Vorzeichen der Digitalisierung” (Evangelische Akademie Hofgeismar, 4.6.2020).
- “Between Participation and Platformisation: Political Communication in the Digital Society”. Lecture at the course in the in-service continuing education programme “Master of Public Policy” at the NRW School of Governance on 25.4.2020 (via video conference).
- “What is good government communication on the net?” Session giver on the topic at the Barcamp of the Federal Press Office on political communication on 21.1.2020 in Berlin
- “Facebook allows political lies – ‘Doesn’t want to be the judge'”. Interview for Web.de from 25.10.2019(https://web.de/magazine/panorama/facebook-laesst-politik-luegen-richter-aufspielen-34115030).
- “Election campaign, digital”. In: politik&kommunikation 3/2019, pp. 32-34.(www.politik-kommunikation.de/ressorts/artikel/das-sind-die-wichtigsten-trends-im-campaigning-54529709).
- Between Participation and Platformisation: Political Communication in the Digital Society. Frankfurt a. M. 2019.