Digital People: Philosophical and Legal Understanding

Relevance. The concept of "people" has a system-forming significance for the modern political structure of the world. This is due to the exclusive right of the people to self-determination. In other words, the people within the territory of residence are the only source of power, which allows them to organize states, establish rules of conduct (laws) on their territory. The development of technology has made the experience of interacting with the digital space a part of everyday human life. The gradual adoption of digital reality as the main pattern will form the need for users to equip the digital environment in the image and likeness of the physical world. With the development of intersubjective digital relations, in the presence of favorable conditions, the nature of relations between group members is qualitatively transformed, which can form such users' idea of their group as a digital people.The purpose of the study is to explore the nature and prospects of digital people, i.e. highly organized groups of users who have established their own rules in a certain digital space and influence the virtual and physical world.Objectives: conceptualization of the concept of “digital people”, analysis of the historical, philosophical and legal foundations of the digital people as a phenomenon; identifying scenarios for the development of intergroup relations among active users of the global information and telecommunications network.Methodology. The research methodology includes an interdisciplinary and systematic approach, a method of historical analysis.Results. An analysis of the historical, philosophical and legal foundations of the formation of many people into a people was carried out, which made it possible to conceptualize the concept of “digital people” as a more complex socio-political phenomenon, emerging at the intersection of the virtual and physical world.Conclusions. A comprehensive philosophical and methodological analysis of the phenomenon of digital people made it possible to identify the source of power of such a group, which stems from the group itself, and therefore, at the stage of establishing its rules within the occupied digital space and/or establishing a digital state, such a group will not need approval and approval from the outside third parties.