Abstract
There is currently much discussion about the crisis or even the end of demo- cracy. In the initial phase of digitalisation, many hoped that the Internet, with its boundlessly open, egalitarian and interactive structure, would provide a boost to democratisation. This article is based on Jürgen Habermas' deliberative theory of democracy and examines whether the digital public sphere fulfils the requirements of a critical public sphere as a normative principle. The opportu- nities and risks of increasingly online public communication are weighed up against each other from various perspectives: e.g.with regard to participation, integration, orientation towards reason or the common good.