How social media can undermine democracy

Ronen Gradwohl, Yuval Heller and Arye Hillman

European Journal of Political Economy, 2025, vol. 86, issue C

Abstract: We examine the influence a self-interested social-media platform can have on election outcomes. Using the framework of the Condorcet Jury Theorem, we explore the effect of additional information via private messages from the platform, modeled through Bayesian persuasion. We establish conditions under which the platform can sway the majority voting outcome, assuming voters vote sincerely. Additionally, we demonstrate that the information disseminated by the platform can sometimes be biased in the opposite direction of the platform’s interests.

Keywords: Media bias; Social media; Voter information; Ideology; Political persuasion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: P35 Z18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:poleco:v:86:y:2025:i:c:s0176268024001368

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2024.102634

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