Sixty four percent of Americans believe that social media plays a negative role in the health of democracy. In addition, 85% indicate that it allows citizens to be manipulated through the spread of fake news and rumors. The vast majority (79%) also stressed that it favors division among supporters of different political parties.
The results come from a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 19 countries about the health of democracy. Americans are the most critical of the impact social media has on the social and political coexistence of the country.
Only around a third of Americans think social media is positive for democracy. That’s the smallest share among 19 countries asked. https://t.co/AdDM03jnnQ
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) December 6, 2022
Poeple are less civil when talking about politics
Republican Party voters and independents present a much higher percentage (74%) in terms of a negative view of the influence of social media in politics. Democratic Party supporters also disapprove of these platforms, but not nearly as much (57%). In this regard, 69% of Americans report that the Internet and social media have made people less civil when it comes to talking about politics, again the highest percentage among the countries in the study.
For 79% of respondents, social media causes greater political division among citizens. This corroborates data from the same agency's November 16 poll in which 89% of Americans say they perceive a strong or very strong division between supporters of different political parties.
More information
When it comes to social media's impact on coexistence and tolerance, Americans are divided. Three responses were offered in the survey, and each received one-third of the votes. A slight majority (35%) believe that social media helps society become more accepting of people of different ethnic groups and religions. Thirty-four percent believe that it has the opposite effect, while 30% believe that it does not have much impact.
However, a large majority (64%) of Americans also believe that, thanks to the Internet and social media, people are more informed about what is happening in their own country. In this regard, 17% of Americans say they "often" use social media for information, and 33% "sometimes." Among the platforms, Facebook (31%) is the most used by users for information, followed by Twitter (27%). Nearly 25% get their information from YouTube, followed by Instagram (13%), TikTok (10%) and Reddit (8%).
The rest of the world
Among the rest of the countries surveyed, a large majority considered the Internet and social media to be a good thing for democracy. On average, 57% of respondents answered this way, compared to 35% who consider it negative. Most believe that, thanks to these platforms, citizens are better informed about what is happening in their countries and abroad and have helped to increase tolerance towards other groups.
% of adults in each G7 nation who say social media has been a BAD THING for democracy in their country
🇺🇸 US: 64%
🇫🇷 France: 51%
🇬🇧 UK: 48%
🇨🇦 Canada: 47%
🇩🇪 Germany: 41%
🇮🇹 Italy: 40%
🇯🇵 Japan: 23%https://t.co/iKzLV3zoMf pic.twitter.com/MrosOLYiMf— John Gramlich (@johngramlich) December 6, 2022
However, they also overwhelmingly perceive that social media facilitates manipulation through misinformation, increase division between supporters of different political options, and cause people to be uncivil when discussing politics.
