ABSTRACT
There are several concerns on how social media is influencing the working of democracy. The key issues are: (1) social media has exacerbated polarization, (2) social media is instrumental in the spread of false and misleading information, (3) social media platforms convert popularity into legitimacy, (4) social media platforms allow and intensify manipulation by “populist” leaders, (5) the revenue model of social media channels is based on personal-data capture and targeted messaging or advertising and (6) some social media platforms have policies and features that enable unintended consequences which imply the encouragement of uncivil debate. All of this is combined with-less-than optimal democratic operations.
