For previous generations, the public square was a physical space. Today, for millions of young people, it is digital.
In Bangladesh, where the median age is around 26 and more than 77 million people use the internet, social media platforms have become central spaces for civic engagement.
Young people use these platforms not only to communicate, but to discuss public issues, organize community initiatives, access information, advocate for change, and hold institutions accountable.
Their first encounter with democratic participation is increasingly through digital spaces rather than political meetings, public rallies, or traditional media.
This reality is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
For many young Bangladeshis, digital platforms have become the most accessible entry point into civic and democratic participation.
The recent Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI) South Asia country brief on Bangladesh reflects this changing landscape. It highlights how such platforms are reshaping civic participation, political engagement, and access to information.
As virtual connectivity expands, these platforms are increasingly enabling citizens -- particularly young people -- to access information, engage with public issues, connect across communities, and participate in civic life beyond traditional spaces.
At the same time, the report highlights growing concerns around misinformation, digital rights, platform governance, and regulatory oversight, raising important questions about how democratic societies should respond to both the opportunities and risks of an increasingly digital future.
Yet many policy discussions continue to approach social media primarily through the lens of risk, control, and restriction. This is where a fundamental misunderstanding emerges.
Policy-makers often focus on managing the risks associated with digital platforms, while overlooking the extent to which these spaces have become important avenues for civic participation, public engagement, and democratic expression.
Regulations designed without this understanding may address legitimate concerns, but they can also unintentionally narrow the spaces through which many young people engage with public life.
International institutions are increasingly recognizing this reality. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) has repeatedly emphasized the importance of involving young people in shaping internet governance because they are among those most affected by decisions concerning freedom of expression, privacy, access to information, and digital rights.
UNESCO similarly argues that digital platforms have become essential spaces for participation, learning, and civic engagement, making the protection of rights online inseparable from the protection of rights offline.
Issues such as climate action, gender equality, human rights, public accountability, education reform, and civic engagement are increasingly being discussed and mobilized through digital platforms.
In many cases, social media has lowered barriers to participation and amplified voices that were previously excluded from mainstream discourse.
For a young person living outside Dhaka, social media may offer access to conversations and opportunities that were previously out of reach.
For a young entrepreneur, it may be a marketplace. For a volunteer, it may be a tool for community mobilization. For a young activist, it may be the most accessible platform to raise concerns and advocate for change.
These realities are often missing from policy conversations that focus solely on the risks associated with digital spaces.
At the same time, online harms are real. Hate speech, coordinated disinformation, cyberbullying, online harassment, and technology-facilitated gender-based violence disproportionately affect women, girls, journalists, human rights defenders, and minority communities.
These threats cannot be ignored.
However, protecting democracy requires distinguishing between harmful content and legitimate expression. Broad restrictions may reduce some risks, but they can also create a chilling effect where citizens become reluctant to speak, question, organize, or participate.
Young people are particularly vulnerable to this dynamic because digital platforms are often their primary avenue for civic engagement.
If these spaces become perceived as unsafe for discussion, an entire generation may become less willing to engage in public life. The result is not stronger democracy, but weaker democratic participation.
Research consistently shows that democratic resilience is strengthened when citizens have access to information, opportunities for dialogue, and confidence that their voices matter.
Rather than limiting participation, policy-makers should focus on creating healthier digital ecosystems that allow citizens to engage safely while preserving their democratic freedoms.
This is why an increasing number of educators, researchers, and digital governance experts advocate for what may be called civic immunity.
Rather than relying exclusively on restrictions, civic immunity focuses on equipping citizens with the skills needed to navigate complex information environments responsibly. UNESCO's framework on media and information literacy emphasizes critical thinking, digital citizenship, and the ability to identify misinformation while remaining active participants in democratic discourse.
Building civic immunity requires investment in what might be called immunity infrastructure. This includes media and information literacy in schools and universities, civic education programmes, independent journalism, fact-checking initiatives, transparent platform governance, and opportunities for constructive dialogue across differences.
Such investments strengthen society's resilience against misinformation and hate without undermining freedom of expression.
This approach is also consistent with global thinking on digital inclusion. The GSMA has increasingly argued that digital inclusion is no longer simply about access to connectivity.
It is about meaningful use, digital skills, trust, safety, and the ability to benefit from participation in digital spaces.
In other words, the goal is not merely to get people online, but to ensure they can engage confidently, safely, and productively once they are there.
Most importantly, young people themselves must be part of the conversation.
Policies governing digital spaces should not be developed solely for youth but with youth.
The generation most affected by digital regulation possesses valuable insights into how online spaces function, where risks emerge, and what solutions are likely to succeed.
This is precisely why international forums on internet governance increasingly call for meaningful youth participation in shaping digital policy and protecting digital rights.
The future of democracy will not be shaped only in parliaments, courtrooms, or public squares. It will also be shaped on the screens where young citizens exchange ideas, access information, hold power accountable, and imagine a better future.
The choices we make today about digital rights, online safety, and freedom of expression will help determine whether those spaces strengthen democracy or diminish it.
As Bangladesh continues its democratic journey in an increasingly digital world, it faces a challenge shared across South Asia: How to address misinformation, hate speech, online violence, and technology-facilitated harms without undermining freedom of expression, civic participation, and digital rights.
The region's experience increasingly suggests that resilience may be more effective than restriction alone. Building a more informed, critical, and engaged citizenry is ultimately a stronger safeguard against online harms than limiting participation itself.
If democracy is ultimately about citizens having a voice in shaping their future, then protecting freedom of expression in the digital public square is not simply a technology issue -- it is a democratic imperative.
SM Shaikat is Executive Director of SERAC-Bangladesh and a global youth policy expert.
