Abstract
This paper maps the uses of the expression digital constitutionalism, as employed in recent debates about digital technologies regulation (in particular, digital platforms). Our goal is to highlight discrepancies and risks implied in the dilatation of the term "constitutionalism" to encompass the normative phenomena that run under this label. In light of the understanding of traditional constitutionalism as a political and institutional phenomenon, we identify the theories that precede digital constitutionalism as contemporary formulations aimed at explaining changes in the functioning of powers and normative systems that transcend or overlap the nation-state and its territorial boundaries (i.e., constitutional pluralism, societal constitutionalism, and global constitutionalism). Based on the literature's criticism of this theoretical matrix, digital constitutionalism is problematized as a term epistemically impaired by the diversity of applications and the potential to legitimize concentrations of private powers.
Keywords:
digital constitutionalism; platform regulation; Internet; societal constitutionalism; legal pluralism; global constitutionalism