From May 26 to 28, 2025, the digital civil society gathered once again at re:publica in Berlin, the festival for the digital society and the largest conference of its kind in Europe: Activists, scientists, journalists, politicians, and cultural actors discussed responsibility, visions, and upheavals in a world permeated by technology under this year's motto “Generation XYZ.” The ECDF was once again represented with several contributions. Researchers from various disciplines shed light on the structural, political, and social dimensions of digital technologies. The spectrum ranged from criticism of technology policy ideology to analysis of digital health and security infrastructures.
Digital ideology and the attack on democracy
In a powerful lecture, philosopher and ECDF-affiliated researcher Rainer Mühlhoff analyzed ideological currents within the tech industry. Under the title “Digital Fascism: How AI Ideology Undermines Democracy and How We Can Defend It,” he addressed the political dimension of current AI debates and their ideological roots. Mühlhoff showed that the link between the AI industry and anti-democratic ideologies exists not only on an economic level. Rather, transhumanist tech ideology shares central elements with authoritarian worldviews: technocratic elite formation, selection through intelligence, and belief in a posthuman future. Narratives such as singularity and longtermism, once niche ideas from think tanks such as “Humanity+” or the “Future of Life Institute,” have now also shaped political discourse in Europe.
Ethics is often used as a fig leaf: movements such as “effective altruism” present themselves as oriented toward the common good, but represent technologically deterministic and selective positions. Mühlhoff called for critical reflection on digital narratives of the future and warned against their political appropriation. "Transhumanists see AI development as a force of nature. For them, it is something that happens like an evolutionary process of humanity and cannot be stopped," said the professor. Mühlhoff's colleague Aline Blankertz, an economist at Rebalance Now, concluded by emphasizing that technical solutions should also be used at the federal level, but that she believes a European alternative based on European values is essential.
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Who are the German digital elites? A sociological assessment
Sociologist and ECDF board member Philipp Staab, together with Lion Hubrich, research assistant at the ECDF and HU Berlin, presented research findings on the social structure of the German tech elite. Under the title “Elites of Digitalization in Germany: The Social Structure of Backwardness,” they presented who the key players in the digital economy in Germany are, how their careers have progressed, and what ideas of renewal they embody. Their findings: The German digital elite is far less diverse and permeable than innovation rhetoric would suggest. Most top positions are held by West German men with academic backgrounds. The proportion of East Germans or people with international backgrounds is low, as is the proportion of women on the boards of large start-ups.
The career paths are also unsurprising: education at German universities, early entry into established companies, low international mobility. Networking among the players takes place primarily in traditional committees – less so in new, open innovation environments. Staab and Hubrich see this less as a new beginning than as a continuation of existing structures. The often-invoked “German Musk” remains more of a symbol than a lived reality. “What we see has little to do with a new beginning, but more with the Germany of the 1990s,” Hubrich sums up.
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Digitalization in healthcare: Between skepticism and design
In her presentation “The electronic patient record as a test of democracy: A user guide for young and old,” Rahel Gubser, research assistant at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Freie Universität Berlin and member of ECDF professor Daniel Fürstenau's team, provided background information and current developments surrounding the introduction of the ePA. She sees the ePA not only as a technical project, but also as a social one. Gubser explained how the file works, what data is collected, and what rights patients have. She made it clear that broad acceptance requires informed and self-determined use. The handling of sensitive information requires particular attention.
Her plea: The ePA can provide real added value if users actively participate in shaping it. The presentation concluded with a call for more transparency, co-determination, and responsibility in the handling of digital health data.
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Digital counterpublic: Analyzing disinformation with Teledash
Telegram is considered a platform for conspiracy theories – but analyzing them is a complex task. Elisabeth Steffen, research assistant and doctoral candidate at HTW Berlin and TU Berlin and member of ECDF professor Helena Mihaljević's team, presented the open source tool Teledash in the workshop “Monitoring and analyzing disinformation, conspiracy theories, and more on Telegram.” The open source tool Teledash with," an open source tool for investigating Telegram channels. With the help of AI-supported processes, content can be transcribed, grouped by topic, and evaluated. The tool is aimed at the media, academia, and civil society and is intended to help better understand disinformation environments. In the workshop, participants were able to test Teledash directly and discuss application scenarios.