A significant part of our private lives now takes place online – in private messages, personalised feeds, and interactions with AI companions. These practices raise fundamental normative questions about privacy, autonomy, and power, yet political theory lacks a systematic framework for addressing them. They also play a structural role in sustaining conditions for democratic life. That role is increasingly shaped by the commercial infrastructure.
This project introduces the digital private sphere as a concept in normative political theory and develops the first comprehensive account of this domain. The project runs for three years at the Institute for Future Studies in Stockholm, led by Henrik Kugelberg (PI) and Elsa Kugelberg (researcher). It adopts a practice-dependent methodology, deriving normative principles from the structure and aims of the practices under study rather than applying pre-established theory.
The project proceeds in three phases. We develop the concept of the digital private sphere; conduct normative case studies of AI companions, encrypted messaging, and personalised feeds; and integrate the case-level findings to determine whether the digital private sphere generates general normative principles that cut across individual practices. The project addresses a significant gap in political theory and will inform ongoing efforts in the EU and beyond to regulate AI and digital platforms.
