Challenges of digital modernization in Central Asian countries: the role of media platforms in transforming the information landscape

this article examines the features of digital modernization in the Central Asian countries through the lens of media environment transformation and the role of media platforms in shaping a new information landscape. The study is based on an analysis of theoretical approaches to digital communications, as well as a comparison of national strategies of media transformation in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. The author identifies key challenges, such as digital inequality, the spread of disinformation, platform dependence, and political control, and analyzes how media platforms serve both as tools of civic mobilization and as objects of state regulation. The article emphasizes the dual nature of digital modernization in the region and proposes directions for further research, including the long-term impact of digital media on political culture.

digital modernization, media platforms, information landscape, Central Asia, media literacy, political communication