How Does Social Media Affect Democracy?

    There is no doubt that social media plays a huge role in modern democracy. There are many views on social media’s political impact and whether or not it is mostly beneficial or detrimental for America’s representative government and its people. 

Looking at the positive side of things, social media is a big part of promoting political engagement in today’s world. Social platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram provide voter registration forms. Many platforms also raise awareness about the importance of voting and how to effectively complete the process. Notifications are often sent out to numbers with a specific area code to alert people of an upcoming opportunity to vote for a candidate.

A key part of democracy is the free flow of ideas and opinions, which social media effectively facilitates. X threads, discussion groups, and podcasts are all prevalent examples of forms of social media that allow people to communicate with others about general opinions and be exposed to many different types of information and points of view. Oftentimes, discussion groups allow anonymity, making it easier to express political views that one would typically be reluctant to share. Hashtags make it easy for users to find, view, and add to specific topics of interest as well. 

It is also easy to learn and hear about new events and movements taking place around the world through social media. According to a ShareAmerica article, “In the U.S., the Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013 and gained followers via social media.” The #MeToo movement gained traction through social media as well, supporting protests against sexual harassment.

As for the negative political effects of social media, over the years, it has become clear just how easy it is to manipulate others’ ideas and opinions with fake information. During the 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections, false stories were spread throughout various social media platforms. A lot of these stories were created with a specific political agenda in mind, and these stories became widespread as people shared them. This fake news likely influenced the public’s views on the candidates. Similarly, fake news was put out about the COVID-19 virus and vaccines, causing many to be distrusting of any information released about it.

Social media algorithms pay attention to a user’s liked videos, comments, and more, and then display new content based on the user’s interests. This prevents different content and opinions from making it onto the user’s feed, therefore reinforcing pre-existing political beliefs rather than seeing all sides/views. Wired wrote, “The global village that was once the internet [has] been replaced by digital islands of isolation that are drifting further apart each day.”

Finally, it is easy to succumb to harassing others and displaying toxic behavior on social media when it comes to politics. This happens in the form of hate speeches, violations of privacy, like doxxing, and flame wars (angry/critical comments between users on a social platform). These are all actions that do not promote a healthy democracy.

Despite the world’s conflicting views on social media and its impact on the government, it’s here to stay. There are beneficial effects, like the promotion of voting and flow of various opinions and ideas, however, there are harmful effects as well such as  the spread of fake news,  misuse of algorithms, and toxic behavior.