Taipei: The internet is enabling demagogues to win democratic elections through rapid, emotionally charged messaging, posing a growing threat to constitutional government, 2026 Tang Prize laureate Bruce Ackerman said Saturday. In his laureate lecture in Taipei, Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale Law School, warned against this messaging, which he called "sound-bite democracy," and argued that democracies needed institutions that give voters time to think before casting their ballots.
According to Focus Taiwan, Ackerman stated that the internet has revolutionized democracy in ways that threaten its destruction. Before the internet, aspiring demagogues had to obtain sustained attention from newspaper editors and television commentators, giving their opponents time to organize. Today, online platforms allow political figures to bombard large audiences directly with exaggerations and misrepresentations, while consultants compress their appeals into 15- or 30-second messages.
Ackerman explained that this environment has increasingly allowed demagogues to gain power through elections by portraying their opponents as "enemies of the people," rather than destroying democratic systems through violent seizures of power. Despite concerns over Donald Trump's reelection, Ackerman challenged the prevailing despair among scholars and proposed "Deliberation Day" as a remedy.
Deliberation Day, as proposed by Ackerman, would be a public holiday held several weeks before a major election, allowing citizens to examine key issues and arguments before voting. Participants would meet online in small groups, receive equal speaking time, choose priority questions by secret ballot, and question representatives of competing candidates in larger assemblies.
Ackerman cited around 150 deliberative-polling experiments conducted internationally, noting that participants gained knowledge and better understood opposing views, often leading them to reconsider their positions. Opinion commonly shifted by 10 to 15 percentage points, without a consistent left or right movement. He also referenced French President Emmanuel Macron's citizens' assembly on end-of-life issues, which influenced policy and supported an assisted-dying law approved in July.
Ackerman urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to consider an EU-wide Deliberation Day, arguing that Europe's military buildup amid Russia's war in Ukraine makes stronger safeguards against future authoritarian leaders especially urgent. He also suggested Taiwan could demonstrate how democracy can respond constructively to geopolitical danger by implementing Deliberation Day and becoming an international model of deliberative democracy.
The Tang Prize is a biennial award established in 2012 by the late Taiwanese entrepreneur Samuel Yin to honor people who have made prominent contributions in four categories: sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, sinology, and rule of law. Ackerman received the Tang Prize in Rule of Law for his work on constitutional government, judicial review, and democratic institutions. This year's recipients received their prizes on Friday and delivered their laureate lectures at the Taipei Bioinnovation Park in Taipei's Nangang District on Saturday.