摘要： 西方数字公共领域的民主协商过程正在陷入“形式主义化”陷阱。政治力量深度介入了运作过程，将西方政治活动转变为“形象塑造”的奇观。经济逻辑基于“以消费者为中心”，而不是优先考虑公民参与或民主化进程。数字公共领域的整体结构呈现“大球体包裹无数小球体”的状态，“特权用户球体”和“文盲大众球体”的分层正在加剧。由于网络的高度聚集、幂律分布效应，只有极少数头部声音可以被听见，出现了“消失的中层”现象。同时，公共知识被严重污染，社交媒体的“多步骤横向流动”特性掩盖了信息的来源。虚拟沟通难以达成移情，数字沟通倾向于“信息积累”和强化社会分层。哈贝马斯理想中的“无限制议程”被人工智能设置，高质量的争论、互动提问的文化和包容性的评论被情绪化话语和极端立场所替代。这一切最终导致西方数字公共领域难以实现哈贝马斯理想中的民主协商场景。

关键词: 数字公共领域, 哈贝马斯, 公共知识, 民主协商, 虚假赋权

Abstract: The democratic deliberation process in the Western digital public sphere is falling into the trap of formalism. Political forces have deeply intervened in the operational process, transforming Western political activities into a spectacle of image-shaping. The economic logic is based on a consumer-centric approach rather than a citizen-centric one, and does not prioritize citizen participation or democratization processes. The overall structure of the digital public sphere presents a “large sphere enveloping countless small spheres”, and the stratification between the “privileged user sphere” and the “illiterate public sphere” is intensifying. Due to the high clustering and power-law distribution effects of the network, only a very small number of dominant voices can be heard, resulting in the phenomenon of “disappearing middle layers”. At the same time, public knowledge is severely polluted, and the “multi-step horizontal flow” feature of social media masks the source of information. Virtual communication is difficult to achieve empathy, while digital communication tends to accumulate information and strengthen social stratification. Habermas’s ideal “unrestricted agenda” is set by artificial intelligence, with high-quality debates, a culture of interactive questioning, and inclusive comments replaced by emotional discourse and extreme positions. All of this ultimately leads to difficulties in achieving the democratic deliberation scenario envisioned by Habermas in the Western digital public sphere.

Key words: digital public sphere, Habermas, public knowledge, democratic deliberation, false empowerment