Per una critica epistemologica del Web Personalizzato

This paper aims to provide an overview of the main epistemological consequences of accessing and interrogating the major informational ecosystems hosted and made available by the Web of Personalisation, namely the most widely used and culturally influential digital intermediaries. The first part consists in a brief summary of the general epistemic trends of the contemporary Web, such as the systematic information overload and the significant changes brought about by algorithmic filtering in assessing the relevance and the reliability of both digital contents and web sources. The analysis then focuses on the central role played by digital platforms’ custom filters in reinforcing human cognitively biased attitudes, like confirmation bias, homophily or groupthink. The final part discusses the most relevant epistemically and socially challenging risks of the neo-privatisation and polarization of the digital public sphere.