The Algorithmic Moral Weather: Atmospheres of the Imaginary in Digital Governance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13129/2281-8138/2026.1.51-66Keywords:
Algorithmic moral weather, Platform governance, Social imaginary, Affective atmospheres, Moral orientationAbstract
Contemporary algorithmic systems influence moral life through affective atmospheres that orient perception before conscious judgment. This article introduces algorithmic moral weather to describe the diffuse climates generated within platformed environments, conditioning what appears acceptable, urgent, or legitimate. Drawing on atmospheric theory and the sociology of the social imaginary, it treats algorithmic environments as socio-technical operators of affective modulation through interfaces, visibility metrics, and temporal acceleration. The argument is developed through a theoretically informed discussion of documented dynamics on X, formerly Twitter, where outrage, quantified visibility, and accelerated responsiveness become especially legible. A climate-centered approach to digital governance reveals how collective sensibility is conditioned by the political and economic arrangements that produce such atmospheres.
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