The general theme of this thesis is the audience's understanding and ideals ofscience and how these, through digital social media, are shaped in relation to moregeneral understandings about the role of science in society. The rationale of thethesis was to study constructions of ideals of science at Flashback Forum during theperiod of April 1, 2021 through April 1, 2022. The theoretical framework wasconstructed using theories taken from the field Science of science communication,Knorr-Cetina's theories of the knowledge society and epistemic cultures, theories ofthe post-truth society and understandings of digital media landscapes as publicnetworks. The material retrieved from Flashback was collected using a structuredselection method and analyzed through a thematic content analysis. The materialwas structured based on the various ideals of science that emerged. A total of ninedifferent ideals of science could be defined. The performative strategies used tosubstantiate the discursive content were then examined. Strategies are mentionedas markers and a total of ten different markers appeared. The analysis of thematerial has shown that science is generally seen as a legitimate source ofknowledge and that science is used as a way of legitimizing, for example, opinionsand positions. The analysis also shows that ideas of science may differ and that theconcept of science, as a producer of knowledge and as practice, varies from thosewith a stronger connection to scientific establishment. All in all, the study points to thetension that can arise when science, with its complexity, on the one hand positionsas an interpreter of truth and democracy and on the other hand as part of ademocratization process increasingly becomes a concern for society as a whole.