The Mediatization of Human–Machine Interaction in Digital Public Space: Socio-Political Implications for Contemporary Political Communication

Abstract

The transformation of the digital public sphere positions machines particularly algorithms and artificial intelligence as increasingly influential actors within the communication ecology. This study examines how processes of mediatization, as articulated by Andreas Hepp and Stig Hjarvard, reshape political communication practices when human–machine interaction becomes integral to the production, distribution, and consumption of information. Using the framework of deep mediatization, this research conceptualizes algorithms not merely as technical channels but as operational entities with agency in shaping discourse visibility, public attention patterns, and the tempo of political conversation. The framework of Human–Machine Communication (HMC) further explains how machines function as quasi-communicators whose mechanisms of personalization, recommendation, and automated response contribute to shaping political opinion and civic participation.

The article argues that human–machine interaction has generated a new form of platform-mediated political communication, where public deliberation increasingly shifts toward algorithmic recommendation processes. This shift brings socio-political consequences such as discourse fragmentation, personalization-based polarization, rising pseudo-engagement, and the emergence of political agency negotiated between human intention and technological design. By integrating mediatization and HMC perspectives, the study offers fresh insight into the evolving configuration of communicative power in the digital age and highlights the democratic challenges posed by an increasingly automated media infrastructure.