Those who worry about the future of democracy focus a lot of their anxiety on the way that the things that happen in online public spaces are harming deliberation and the fabric of society. To be sure, billions of users appreciate what the internet does for them. But the climate in some segments of social media and other online spaces has been called a 'dumpster fire' of venom, misinformation, conspiracy theories and goads to violence.

In light of current conversations about the need to rethink and redesign online public spaces, researchers from the Pew Research Center and Elon University asked experts how they expect the digital public sphere to evolve by 2035. This report outlines the findings.