Taiwan has found a way to use a carefully designed social network constructively.
As stated in the Tyee,
Taiwan Is Crowdsourcing an Everybody-Wins Democracy
They had to do something. In 2014,
Opponents to the bill felt not just defeated, but invisible. The government had promised to listen to their concerns, but simply hadn't done so, rushing the bill onto the parliament floor. They had the votes; they could get it through. So that evening, protesters scaled the fence, kicked the door open and streamed onto the floor of Taiwan's parliament, the Legislative Yuan.
Sound familiar from recent history?
Well, the government found a way to listen.
They set up vTaiwan, a social network where prominence is given to posts that further concord instead of discord. And they're using it to craft proposals for legislation. Anyone can contribute.
The article doesn't state how the social network determines which posts promote consensus. I'd like to know.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 12 2021, @07:55PM
Came to say something similar. While there are a few "ethnic" groups in Taiwan (including the original island inhabitants on the mountainous SE side), it's nothing like the melting pot of USA. So consensus is more likely to be possible, just because most of the people share a lot of the same cultural background.