The Detrimental Impact of Social Media on Democracy in the Digital Age: an Analysis of Social Media Mechanism

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_52How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Media and Politics; Political Polarization; Algorithmic gatekeeping; Social media and Democracy

Abstract

This paper investigates the detrimental impact of social media on democracy in the digital age, focusing on two key mechanisms: the absence of professional gatekeepers and the rise of personalized algorithms. Traditional media operated under strict editorial and professional gatekeeping, ensuring content credibility and serving the public interest. However, in the social media landscape, users themselves have become content gatekeepers, often lacking journalistic standards or fact-checking processes. This shift has facilitated the rapid spread of misinformation, political propaganda, and extremist views. Additionally, social media platforms employ algorithmic gatekeeping based on user preferences, which creates echo chambers and exacerbates political polarization by reinforcing preexisting beliefs. The 2016 U.S. presidential election illustrates how social bots and fake news, left unchecked by professional gatekeeping, can manipulate public opinion and democratic outcomes. While algorithms were introduced as a solution, they primarily serve economic goals rather than democratic values. This paper concludes by discussing the ethical and regulatory challenges of managing misinformation and polarization while preserving freedom of expression, calling for interdisciplinary collaboration to address these pressing democratic threats in the digital age.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Zijun Xu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/09/12
TI  - The Detrimental Impact of Social Media on Democracy in the Digital Age: an Analysis of Social Media Mechanism
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 9th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 481
EP  - 488
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_52
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_52
ID  - Xu2025
ER  -