The Digital Frontier: Platforms, Conflicts, and Diplomacy

This book investigates how online platforms are reshaping the ways diplomacy and conflict unfold in the global arena. It explores how these infrastructures structure political visibility, influence strategic narratives, and redefine how states act, interact, and represent themselves online. Across five thematic chapters, the volume examines platforms as both connective technologies and geopolitical actors, integrating market and entertainment logics into international communication. It analyzes how conflict is reframed through algorithmic amplification, selective visibility, and the commodification of participation and emotion, while diplomacy becomes increasingly performative and entangled with digital mediation. Drawing on qualitative case studies, the book demonstrates that digital infrastructures are not neutral tools but active agents in shaping global affairs. Combining theoretical insight with empirical evidence, it offers a critical perspective on the platformization of international political communication and the new intersections between data, visibility, and power.

Alessandra Massa (PhD) is a researcher in Sociology of Culture and Communication at Sapienza University of Rome. Her work explores digital media, diplomacy, and international politics, focusing on platform geopolitics, disinformation, and state communication. She has contributed to research projects on risk communication, public sector communication, and digital diplomacy.