Most Americans believe social media is corrosive to democracy | WARC | The Feed

Most Americans believe social media is corrosive to democracy

Around the world, most people believe social media has generally been a good thing for democracy in their countries, while the United States tends to perceive it as more of a danger to democracy – a gap that could be explained by generational differences.

Why it matters

Social media is used by huge proportions of the 19 countries Pew surveyed – that’s not surprising – but the medium’s adoption by older generations might be a key to understanding why it's viewed differently in the US than in other countries.

Across the world, older users (50+) have been the sharpest growing segment of the population to start using social media, but the US is interesting – along with Japan – for its high proportion (60%) of older users. This contrasts with most European countries in which fewer than 50% of people aged 50 or older use social. Could this division explain the gap?

The numbers: US is markedly different

• An average of 57% of all countries polled say social media has been good for democracy, with 35% saying it has been bad.
• In the US, however, this dips to 34% who say it has been good, and 64% saying it is bad.
• On other metrics such as perceptions of division and civility, 79% of American respondents said it had contributed to more political divisions and 69% felt it had made people less civil, versus global medians of 65% and 46%, respectively.

Around the world, however, an average of 84% of people agree that social media (and the internet more broadly) have made manipulation through misinformation or rumours easier. And 70% of the same sample believe the spread of false information online to be a major threat, second only to climate change.

Anxiety of influence

The core takeaway, then, is that people do see social media as deeply influential, with global majorities agreeing that it is an effective way of influencing politics and policy.

• Most (77%) agree that it is an effective way to raise awareness.
• 65% say it is an effective way to change minds.
• 64% say it is a useful way to get elected officials to pay attention to an issue.
• 61% say it is an influence on policy decisions in their country.

Sourced from Pew Research

[Image: Pew Research Center]