This chapter provides an unconventional perspective on the role of the Internet, social media, and related technologies of digital politics, which have enabled new forms of democratic governance in networked societies. Researchers who are focused on digital politics and democracy are most often addressing the Internet as a tool for supporting traditional democratic institutions, such as citizen consultation, and political campaigns. However, the Internet is enabling networked individuals to develop a new source of social and political accountability - from the Fifth Estate - comparable to the Fourth Estate of an earlier era. The chapter defines the Fifth Estate, its foundations in the behaviour of networked individuals, and its future in the face of challenges from the other estates of the Internet realm.