Dominik Steiger

• This chapter aims to analyse whether and how democracy is actually threatened by big-data-based operations and what role international law can play to respond to this possible threat. It shows how big-data-based operations challenge democracy and how international law can help in defending it. The chapter focuses on both state and non-state actors may undermine democracy through big data operations; although democracy as such is a rather underdeveloped concept in international law, which is often more concerned with effectivity than legitimacy – international law protects against these challenges via a democracy-based approach rooted in international human rights law on the one hand, and the principle of non-intervention on the other hand. Thus, although democracy does not play a major role in international law, international law nevertheless is able to protect democracy against challenges from the inside as well as outside.