THE AUTOMATION OF CONTROL: ALGORITHMIC CENSORSHIP AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF SUB-REALITIES

Abstract

The paper argues that the explosion of communication channels and content volume has created an illusion of informed participation, while simultaneously enabling latent, multidimensional forms of censorship. Rather than approaching censorship as an explicit act of top-down act of suppression, mostly from centralized authorities, this paper explores what contemporary communication theorists define as censorship through noise. Closely tied to the phenomenon of information overload, this form of smokescreening emerges within the current digital information ecosystem, where abundance itself becomes a mechanism of suppression. Often going hand in hand with disinformation and so-called alternative facts, it further amplifies internal contradictions, entropy, and logical inconsistency; it blurs the line between verified reporting and fabricated narratives, producing an epistemic landscape where truth is drowned in a sea of falsehoods, and where multiple fragmented, decontextualized, and affectively charged “truths” proliferate. Ultimately, the paper introduces the concept of dual-level censorship - the coexistence of latent suppression through information saturation and explicit algorithmic content moderation. Through this lens, the study maps how the digital information ecosystem contributes to deepening social polarization, alienation, and a reconfiguration of the digital divide and the very concept of censorship itself.