Is Social Media a Threat to Democracy?
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Executive Summary
It is becoming increasingly apparent that fundamental
principles underlying democracy—trust, informed
dialogue, a shared sense of reality, mutual consent,
and participation—are being put to the test by certain
features and attributes of social media. As technology
companies increasingly achieve financial success by
monetizing public attention, it is worth examining
some of the key issues and unintended consequences
arising as a result.1
1
iven the focus of this paper, we have not addressed any of the
G
negative individual, psychological, ramifications of social media,
such as its effects on depression, addiction, coercion, exhibitionism,
self-censorship, and other “chilling effects.”
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