POWER AND ALGORITHMS: DIGITAL CONSTITUTIONALISM IN THE AGE OF BIG TECH

Abstract

The digitalization of social relations has reconfigured the exercise of power, with a large part of it being transferred to the private individuals of digital companies, insisting on a dilemma between private rules and state rules, creating a legislative gap in which various current debates and processes question the power of social networks and transnational private actors (Big Techs). Currently, in the global context, these changes manifest through Terms of Use and algorithmic systems which, while promoting the fluidity and connectivity necessary for the existence of a social network, can, when used perversely, foster criminal practices such as: racism, pedophilia, hate speech, misogyny, etc. Furthermore, they expand private normative power and threaten fundamental rights. This article aims to analyze the impacts of private governance on platform users, democracy, and sovereignty, highlighting institutional responses, whether legislative or judicial, as strategies for the reaffirmation of constitutionalism. The research was developed through a bibliographic review, based mainly on national and foreign doctrine, and documentary analysis of legislation, bills, and jurisprudence. The results indicate that the implementation of algorithmic systems imposed by these networks tends to reproduce surveillance practices over posted videos and behavioral modulation, requiring state institutions to develop new forms of resistance and regulation of limits. The study highlights the need for public policies that recognize the horizontal effectiveness of fundamental rights in the digital environment. It is concluded that digital constitutionalism is, beyond an emerging theory, an essential condition for the survival of democracy in the information society.