Identity in the Virtual World: Power and New Boundaries of Personal Expression

The purpose of this article is a philosophical understanding of the personal identity formation processes in the digital age through the prism of the phenomenon of power, manifested in both institutional and micropolitical forms. The focus of the analysis is on the algorithms of digital platforms, social networks and the structures they control, which act as modern dispositifs of power that shape the conditions of visibility, access to information and social interaction. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the consideration of virtual space not just as a communication environment, but as an ontologically significant space of being in which the reconfiguration of subjectivity occurs. The authors interpret identity not as a given entity, but as a dynamic construct arising from the intersection of technological, discursive and power influences. This article is the first to systematically understand digital mechanisms as tools not only for controlling but also for producing subjectivity from this perspective. The result of the study is the identification of the paradoxical nature of the virtual space, which simultaneously provides the individual with broad opportunities for self-presentation and acts as a field of strict normatization. The authors substantiate that modern algorithmic systems not only regulate behavior, but also constitute a “successful” digital identity with the help of internal self-regulation. Thus, digital power manifests itself as a productive force that forms new boundaries and modalities of the personal “my own self” in the ontology of network existence.