... a welcome arrival on the scene ... unlike the many other works which critique, say, machine learning technology on the grounds of racial or gender bias or its environmental impact, Susskind raises the deeper question of why such powerful discriminatory technologies can be deployed at all. Why are democracies so cowed by digital technology that almost anything goes? ... it may sound like a to-do list for policy wonks, but Susskind’s gift for exposition means that the reader rarely loses the will to live as they head towards the (vast) bibliography. It also helps that he has a knack for the telling phrase ... really, the most refreshing thing about this fine book is its ideological stance. The reason why most current attempts to rein in tech power are doomed is because its critics implicitly accept its legitimacy rather than being outraged by its arrogant effrontery. That’s because they’ve been drinking the neoliberal Kool-Aid for nearly half a century. Ideology, after all, is what determines how you think when you don’t know you’re thinking. It’s time for a change, and The Digital Republic is a good place to start.

Susskind’s remarkably comprehensive book explores the challenges new digital technologies create, asking what the power and potential of digital systems means for human liberty, democracy, justice, and politics. Most importantly, he argues that the political ideas we have held for centuries are ill-equipped to respond to the challenges posed by current and future technological innovations ... Susskind underappreciates how, in many ways, today’s tech behemoths enjoy portraying themselves as playing an indispensable civic role ... while acknowledging that 'the digital is political' might be an important step in reining in tech’s power, we might go too far by buying into the concept of tech companies as non-traditional economic actors.

... offers a blueprint for the regulation of digital technology...It is an ambitious goal, and the book suffers from the scale of the task it sets itself. Since technology is now intertwined with just about every aspect of society, it is hard to get a grip on what exactly the object of this regulation is, other than, well, everything. Consequently, for a book that seeks to address systemic problems, The Digital Republic has a rather piecemeal and slippery quality which makes it hard for the reader to get a grip on it ... It is stuffed to the gills with information ... There are 39 short chapters, some of which seem to end before they get going and it’s not always clear how they connect to each other. As a software designer might put it, the book’s UX is less than optimal ... I’m not sure Susskind gives enough weight to the downside of regulation. It risks entrenching corporate power and hindering start-ups, since only big companies can afford to hire the number of compliance officers required to deal with it ... When Susskind addresses a specific topic in depth, his analysis and recommendations are worth taking seriously.

Everyone talks about the dangers, but almost no one is suggesting what to do about them. That makes The Digital Republic, by the British lawyer and academic Jamie Susskind, a welcome arrival. Susskind does an excellent job of diagnosing the problems and offers an array of well-constructed solutions, though some are more practical than others ... Susskind is a keen observer of the digital world’s dangers and his analysis is enhanced, for American readers, by his outsider’s eye. He brings the perspective of a European who is more skeptical of the market and corporations than many Americans, and more open to bold solutions to the problems large tech companies create ... Many of his proposals could do a lot of good ... Some proposals, however, seem more suited to the ivory tower than the real world ... Susskind notes that he was 'too young for 1990s cyber-utopianism,' but at times he seems to be engaging in a 2020s version, such as his vision of citizen panels churning out policy edicts to fix big tech’s problems. Still, in trying to make the world right, an excess of idealism is not the worst thing. As we take on the task of pushing back against the internet’s baleful influences — which we must — Susskind’s intelligent book can serve as a valuable guide.

Susskind suggests we instead try 'mini-publics' – most often seen in the form of 'citizen assemblies', where you bring a small but representative group of the population together and give them expert briefings about a difficult choice to be made, after which they create policy options...What he doesn’t acknowledge is that this just delays the problem. After the mini-publics deliberate, you are back at the original choices: do nothing, legislate or regulate ... Deciding between those approaches would require a very detailed examination of how these companies work, and what effects the approaches could have. We don’t get that here. A big surprise about the book is the chapters’ length, or lack of it...Each chapter is thus only a few pages, the literary equivalent of those mini Mars bars infuriatingly described as 'fun size'. But a lot of these topics deserve more than a couple of bites; they are far meatier and more complicated ... One is left with the sneaking suspicion that these problems might just be insoluble.

While urging U.S. and EU readers to understand we can do better than leave people to fend for themselves against corporate power, Susskind recognizes formidable challenges to governing digital technologies in a world where the digital is political ... Susskind provides historical background and philosophical underpinnings for a robust but admitted patchwork of efforts to get past political gridlock and on to adapting to the needs of the unfolding century.

... thoughtful ... The author takes a cautious, reasoned approach to the attendant problems ... Susskind’s analysis of inadequate government is well presented, though those who currently control the internet are unlikely to yield power unless compelled to do so. The author closes with the hope that social media platforms will recognize that regulation will lead to greater public trust in them ... Students of communication law will find much to ponder—and argue—in these pages.