The DOI matches its Crossref record; 88 of the 90 references it cites were found in a registry or an index, and 2 are not checked yet.
Political Effects of the Internet and Social Media
Open accessAbstract
How do the Internet and social media affect political outcomes? We review empirical evidence from the recent political economy literature, focusing primarily on work that considers traits that distinguish the Internet and social media from traditional off-line media, such as low barriers to entry and reliance on user-generated content. We discuss the main results about the effects of the Internet in general, and social media in particular, on voting, street protests, attitudes toward government, political polarization, xenophobia, and politicians’ behavior. We also review evidence on the role of social media in the dissemination of fake news, and we summarize results about the strategies employed by autocratic regimes to censor the Internet and to use social media for surveillance and propaganda. We conclude by highlighting open questions about how the Internet and social media shape politics in democracies and autocracies.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Part of this trend might be explained by the Internet's informing users about government corruption (Zhuravskaya et al. 2020).”
From Social Media and Morality. (2024) · cites this paper as Zhuravskaya et al. 2020
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
The spread of true and false news online
Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aap9559 · Cited by 8,847
Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election
Allcott, H., & Gentzkow, M. (2017) · Journal of Economic Perspectives · doi:10.1257/jep.31.2.211 · Cited by 6,767
Exposure to ideologically diverse news and opinion on Facebook
Bakshy, E., Messing, S., & Adamic, L. A. (2015) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aaa1160 · Cited by 3,245
A 61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization
Bond, R. M., Fariss, C. J., Jones, J. J., Kramer, A. D. I., Marlow, C., Settle, J. E., & Fowler, J. H. (2012) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature11421 · Cited by 2,575
How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression
KING, G., PAN, J., & ROBERTS, M. E. (2013) · American Political Science Review · doi:10.1017/s0003055413000014 · Cited by 2,415
Müller, J.-W. (2016) · doi:10.9783/9780812293784 · Cited by 2,219
The net delusion: the dark side of Internet freedom
Murphy, D. M. (2011) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.48-7161 · Cited by 1,907
Fake news on Twitter during the 2016 U.S. presidential election
Grinberg, N., Joseph, K., Friedland, L., Swire-Thompson, B., & Lazer, D. (2019) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aau2706 · Cited by 1,803
Less than you think: Prevalence and predictors of fake news dissemination on Facebook
Guess, A., Nagler, J., & Tucker, J. (2019) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aau4586 · Cited by 1,652
Gentzkow, M., & Shapiro, J. M. (2006) · Journal of Political Economy · doi:10.1086/499414 · Cited by 1,274
Research works printed but not linked: 25
- Autor D, 2017, A note on the effect of rising trade exposure on the 2016 presidential elections
- Barberá P., 2015, How social media reduces mass political polarization: evidence from Germany, Spain, and the US
- Bessone P, 2019, Internet access, social media, and the behavior of politicians: evidence from Brazil
- Dal Bó E, 2018, Economic losers and political winners: Sweden's radical right
- Dustmann C, 2017, Europe's Trust Deficit: Causes and Remedies
- Enikolopov R, 2015, Handbook of Media Economics, 1, 687
- Field M, 2018, Telegraph
- Furceri D, 2019, Global incidents of corruption index
- Gladwell M., 2010, The New Yorker, 27
- Independent, 2019, Independent
- Inglehart R., 2018, Foreign Aff, 97, 20
- Krastev I., 2018, Foreign Aff, 97, 49
- Laub Z., 2019, Hate speech on social media: global comparisons
- Martin D, 2018, J. Inform. Warfare, 18
- Mitchell A, 2019, Many Americans say made-up news is a critical problem that needs to be fixed
- Mounk Y, 2018, Foreign Aff, 97, 29
- Qin B, 2019, Social media, information networks, and protests in China
- Rosenberg M, 2018, New York Times
- Rotesi T., 2018, Do social media matter? The impact of Twitter on political participation
- Schaub M, 2019, Eur. J. Political Res.
- Shane S., 2017, New York Times
- Silverman C., 2016, BuzzFeed
- Sunstein CR., 2001, Republic.com.
- Tufekci Z., 2018, MIT Technology Review, 14
- Yanagizawa-Drott D, 2020, Echo chambers: Does online network structure affect political polarization?
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 401–500 of 561
دور وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي في التماسك الإجتماعي لدى لاعبي كرة السلة في الأردن
حداد, ي. س. س., هاني, س. ب., ذيابات, خ. و. خ., et al. (2023) · مجلة تطبیقات علوم الریاضة · doi:10.21608/jaar.2023.181451.1366
Political knowledge, media use and right-wing populist preferences
Huber, S., & Schäfer, A. (2023) · Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG eBooks · doi:10.5771/9783748915553-25
The Role of Social Media in Spreading Gender Antagonism
Li, Z. (2023) · Communications in Humanities Research · doi:10.54254/2753-7064/19/20231210
Persuasion Gains and Losses from Peer CommunicationPreprint
Kerman, T. T., Tenev, A. P., & Zabarnyi, K. (2023) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4641522
Mandina, S. P., & Matsika, N. (2024) · Preprints.org · doi:10.20944/preprints202401.0461.v3
Guest editorial: The dark side of social media: EMAC-EJM special issue
Warlop, L., & Fudurić, M. (2024) · European Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1108/ejm-02-2024-991
The Economics of Social MediaPreprint
Aridor, G., Jiménez-Durán, R., Levy, R., & Song, L. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4723727
How Democratically-Elected Leaders Calculate the Costs of Subverting Democracy through TwitterPreprint
Timoneda, J. C., & Escribà-Folch, A. (2024) · Social Science Research Network · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4706550
X-Raying Digital Activism in Selected Countries
Chisita, C. T., Rusero, A. M., Tsabedze, V. W., & Khumalo, A. (2024) · Advances in human services and public health (AHSPH) book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-6684-9467-7.ch012
Using Twitter to analysis of social innovation through user comments data mining
Sadabadi, A. A., & Mehraien, F. (2024) · Multimedia Tools and Applications · doi:10.1007/s11042-024-18739-2
Breaking the Silence: The Effects of Online Social Movements on Gender-Based ViolencePreprint
Kauppinen, I., Rude, B., & Battisti, M. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4774036
Shaping the Truth: History Distortion Post-ConflictPreprint
Monte, D., & Toledo, G. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4793481
Impacto del Inbound Marketing en la Intención de Compra: Un Estudio en las Mueblerías de Machala
Chuya-Chuya, I., & Ramón-Herrera, S. (2024) · 593 Digital Publisher CEIT · doi:10.33386/593dp.2024.3.2385
Do not shut up and do dribble: social media and TV consumption
Pazzona, M., & Spagnolo, N. (2024) · Journal of Population Economics · doi:10.1007/s00148-024-01034-7
Exploring the psychological motivation fuelling COVID-19 infodemic: A population-based study
Karniza, K., Maznah, I., Amalina, A., et al. (2024) · AIP conference proceedings · doi:10.1063/5.0182912
Beyond Connectivity: Unveiling the Health Impact of 3G Expansion in AfricaPreprint
Giurumescu, S. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4854903
Social Media: Vectors of Illiberalism or Sources of Resistance?
Štětka, V., & Mihelj, S. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-54489-7_6
Ortega, Z. A., Puerto, R. L., Fernandez, G., Mabalay, L. A., Sugay, Q. R., & Villarama, J. A. (2024) · Journal of interdisciplinary perspectives · doi:10.69569/jip.2024.0216
Marchetti, R., Stanziano, A., Mincigrucci, R., Sarto, S. D., & Pagiotti, S. (2024) · American Behavioral Scientist · doi:10.1177/00027642241268530
Perspective Chapter: The Effects of Social Media on Local Democracy
Bjørnå, H. (2024) · IntechOpen eBooks · doi:10.5772/intechopen.1005898
Sustainable eParticipation Through Lightweight Democracy?
Johannessen, M. R., Edelmann, N., & Berntzen, L. (2024) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-70804-6_8
Unexpected Politicians: The Viral Celebrities of Unrest
Arce-Pradenas, G. (2024) · De Gruyter eBooks · doi:10.1515/9783111311371-008
The Economics of Nation-Building: Methodological Toolkit and Policy LessonsPreprint
Rohner, D., & Zhuravskaya, E. V. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4951328
Self-citationSong, I.-H., & Lee, K. (2024) · IGEE Proceedings · doi:10.69841/igee.2024.004 · Cited by 1
Media Freedom, Bias, and Manipulation in the Eurasian Post-Socialist Space
Rybinski, K. I. (2024) · Communist and Post-Communist Studies · doi:10.1525/cpcs.2024.2315108
Electing in the dark? Voting behavior in light of polarization
May, M. D. (2024) · SN Business & Economics · doi:10.1007/s43546-024-00697-4
A model of participatory persuasion
Deng, L.-C., & Sun, Y. (2026) · Games Econ. Behav. · doi:10.1016/j.geb.2026.05.006
Hoffstädt, H. E., Verhoef, M., Akkermans, A. A., van der Steen, J. T., Brinkman‐Stoppelenburg, A., de Vries, S., de Graaf, E., Teunissen, S. C. C. M., Hartog, I. D., & van der Linden, Y. M. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0310624
The Spatial Political Economy of DiscontentPreprint
Vanschoonbeek, J. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4977642
Digital Authoritarianism: The Chinese Model and Beyond
Balendra, S. (2024) · Law, governance and technology series · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-75813-3_6
Information Quality, Disagreement and Political PolarisationPreprint
Aytimur, R. E., & Suen, R. M. H. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5047535
Sandi, J. R. A., & Satriawan, B. H. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5052834
Milan, J. M. (2024) · Journal of Education Learning and Management · doi:10.69739/jelm.v1i1.59
Manufacturing Obedience: Entertainment Media and Authoritarian SupportPreprint
Bai, H., Fan, S., Lu, W., & Xie, S. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5091087
Introduction: Politics and Twitter in Post-Twitter Era
Kermani, H. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-81538-6_1
Toward a Theoretical Understanding of Social Media and Politics
Kermani, H. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-81538-6_2
A Study on Sentiment Visual Analysis of Educational Public Opinion Based on Online Big Data
Wei, X. (2025) · Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences · doi:10.2478/amns-2025-0030
Mariač, D., Noumen, N. M. N., Monsur, A. A., et al. (2024) · doi:10.57005/ab.2024.4.7
Levi, E., Bayerlein, M., Grimalda, G. F., & Reggiani, T. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5167714
Stalker states: Are democracies more likely to snoop on citizens’ data on Facebook?
Panao, R. A. L. (2025) · Democratization · doi:10.1080/13510347.2025.2484575
Strategic Complementarities in a Model of Commercial Media Bias
Kerkhof, A., & Münster, J. (2025) · Games · doi:10.3390/g16030021
Taxing Digital Advertising RevenuePreprint
Minelli, E., & Marchiori, C. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5217716
Neo-Propaganda as a Political Strategy in Digital Populism
Duarte, A., Joaquim, A. F. V. L., & Vieira, A. T. (2025) · Advances in wireless technologies and telecommunication book series · doi:10.4018/979-8-3693-9999-6.ch001
Role of social media in promoting environmental advocacy and climate change awareness
Abubakar, M., Maharvi, Z., Sattar, T., et al. (2025) · NUST Journal of Natural Sciences · doi:10.53992/njns.v10i1.243
Bridging gaps or widening them? a causal analysis of social media’s impact on gender inequality
Zore, M. (2025) · International Review of Applied Economics · doi:10.1080/02692171.2025.2504926
Russo, V., & Maretti, M. (2025) · Quality & Quantity · doi:10.1007/s11135-025-02152-4
Ampon, R. K. (2025) · Qeios · doi:10.32388/rq74xl
Fostering Social-Media Entrepreneurs: Evidence from A Field Experiment in ChinaPreprint
Lu, F. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5240337
SOSYAL MEDYA, KÜLTÜR SAVAŞLARI VE DİJİTAL DAYANIŞMA
Öcal, S. Y., & Akçaoğlu, A. (2025) · Sosyoloji Dergisi · doi:10.59572/sosder.1667152
Khairina, N., Nasrudin, R., & Brodjonegoro, B. P. S. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5277059
Kang, T., Battocchio, A. F., Thorson, K., Dong, C., & Sharma, P. (2025) · Information Communication & Society · doi:10.1080/1369118x.2025.2524579
Lobbying in DisguisePreprint
Carattini, S., Matter, U., & Roesti, M. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5363250
Climate Risk Attention and CryptocurrenciesPreprint
Russo, C. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5371840
Regulating Media Bias: Subsidies Versus Price-Caps
Hu, J. (2025) · Review of Network Economics · doi:10.1515/rne-2025-0015
Open-source information and repression
Oechslin, M. (2025) · Journal of comparative economics (Print) · doi:10.1016/j.jce.2025.07.006
Aziz, A. I., & Bischoff, I. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5385424
Freedom of expression in Israeli campuses and social media during the war with Hamas
Amitay, G., Asraf, K., Elisha, E., Farber, S., Peleg‐Koriat, I., & Antar, A. Y. (2025) · Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management · doi:10.1080/1360080x.2025.2535028 · Cited by 1
Transnational diffusion of identity politics
Schwuchow, S. C. (2025) · Journal of Comparative Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jce.2025.07.005 · Cited by 1
Instilling Doubts About Truth: The Impact of Putin's Interview on X Discourse
Hagen, L., Dinh, L., Alexopoulos, G., Li, L., Ford, D., & Chong, M. (2025) · Digital Government Research and Practice · doi:10.1145/3746646
Li, Z., Liao, H., Ma, S., Qiu, J., & Xue, S. (2025) · Journal of Development Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2025.103625 · Cited by 1
Hashtagging Resistance: Media, Authority, and Women's Subjectivity in Post-Mahsa Iran
Beidollahkhani, A., & Ghorashi, M. (2025) · Violence Against Women · doi:10.1177/10778012251379446
Tensions and Triumphs Between MSM and Police
Small, V. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-96-9558-4_7
Small, V. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-96-9558-4_2
Akkaş, C. (2025) · Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research · doi:10.1386/jammr_00114_1
Gabrielyan, O., Suleimenov, I. E., Vitulyova, Y. S., et al. (2025) · International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Computer, Data Sciences and Applications (ACDSA) · doi:10.1109/acdsa65407.2025.11165840
Liu, W., & Li, H. (2025) · International Journal of Information Technologies and Systems Approach · doi:10.4018/ijitsa.393283
AlShamari, A., Gainous, J., & Gray, T. J. (2025) · The Social Science Journal · doi:10.1080/03623319.2025.2586587
The Business of the Culture WarPreprint
Noy, S., & Rao, A. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5694622
The impact of foreign media on political mobilization during the Arab Spring
Angelini, L., Bertinelli, L., Cömertpay, R., & Maystadt, J.-F. (2026) · World Development · doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107218
Legitimacy and Hydropolitics in the Mekong Region: Lao PDR and Cambodia
Haefner, A., & Po, S. (2025) · Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs · doi:10.1177/18681034251398549
Algorithm as an editor: Is public interest possible in online media?
Žarić, D. (2025) · Kultura · doi:10.5937/kultura2588157z
Yamada, K. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5875402
The Sanitization Paradox: How AI-Generated Comment Summaries Reduce Participation Yet Fuel ToxicityPreprint
Zhang, X., & Chen, C. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5865202
Additional file 1 of The great divide: drivers of polarization in the US public
Böttcher, L., & Gersbach, H. (2020) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.13152388
A Mathematical Model of Opinion Dynamics with Application to Vaccine Denial
Cicala, D., Jiang, Y., Lee, J. H., Kurianski, K. M., & Ledder, G. (2026) · Computation · doi:10.3390/computation14090219
Virality: What Makes Narratives Go Viral, and Does it Matter?Preprint
Gehring, K., & Grigoletto, M. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5412276
Khairina, N., Nasrudin, R., & Brodjonegoro, B. P. S. (2025) · Telecommunications Policy · doi:10.1016/j.telpol.2025.103146
Reflections on Government Success and Failure: Then and Now
Rothenberg, L. S. (2025) · The Forum · doi:10.1515/for-2025-2034
COŞGUN, M. (2025) · Nişantaşı üniversitesi sosyal bilimler dergisi/Nişantaşı Üniversitesi sosyal bilimler dergisi · doi:10.52122/nisantasisbd.1766317
From Tweets to the Streets: Twitter and Extremist Protests in the United StatesPreprint
Gylfason, G. (2026) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.6051772
Information Cocoon and Citizens' Political Support: Evidence From China
Ding, T., Zhong, Z. T., & Jing, H. (2025) · International Journal of Public Opinion Research · doi:10.1093/ijpor/edaf069
The More You Know, the Less You Learn: Information Monitoring and Decision-Making BiasPreprint
Zhang, X., & Cao, X. (2026) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.6166846
Social Media, Culture Wars, and Digital Solidarity
Öcal, S. Y., & Akçaoğlu, A. (2025) · DergiPark (Istanbul University)
Brockmann, H., Drews, W., Fierro, P., Frese, J., & Triana, D. (2026) · Computational social sciences · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-01373-6_6
Antinozzi, H. S., Cui, L., & Kunz, P. (2026) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/s1058-749720260000032004
Populism and the Skill Content of Globalisation
B, F. D. A., Iandolo, S., Hillel Rapoport, C., Turati, R., & Vannoorenberghe, G. (2026) · The Economic Journal · doi:10.1093/ej/ueag019 · Cited by 1
Noland, E. (2026) · Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift · doi:10.64098/svt.2025.32.2.51679
Rim, N., Jackson, J. C., Berman, M. G., & Leong, Y. C. (2026) · Communications Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44271-026-00430-x · Cited by 1
Epstein, R., Newland, A., Tang, L. Y., & Edmison, A. (2026) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0343692
The Role of Social Media in Youth-Led Protest
Manoharan, G. (2026) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/979-8-3373-5581-8.ch004
Yamada, K. (2026) · International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction · doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2026.106094
Digital Platforms and Social Transformation in the GCC
Abdul-Nabi, Z. (2026) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-80592-547-720261001
Hagemeyer, L., Vowe, G., & Bernhard, U. (2026) · Mass Communication & Society · doi:10.1080/15205436.2026.2637150
Candidate Behavior in Local Elections: Campaigning in the Digital AgePreprint
Prado, C. (2026) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.6303260
Beidollahkhani, A., & Farkhari, M. (2026) · Global Media and Communication · doi:10.1177/17427665261432033
Zhou, L. C., Fang, C., Zheng, Y., et al. (2026) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.6429000
The spread of (mis)information: A social media experiment in Pakistan
Hirshleifer, S., Naseem, M., Raza, A. A., & Rezaee, A. (2026) · Journal of Development Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2026.103784
Metadata
- Authors
- Zhuravskaya, E., Petrova, M., & Enikolopov, R.
- Affiliations
- Paris School of Economics (FR)
- New Economic School (RU)
- Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08002 Barcelona, Spain
- Venue
- Annual Review of Economics
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2020-08-02
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 415-438
- ISSN
- 1941-1383 (ISSN-L)
- 1941-1391
- OpenAlex
- W3123948795
- Cited by
- 560
- References
- 88
- Citations by year
- 2026: 76 · 2025: 105 · 2024: 133 · 2023: 113 · 2022: 74 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 14
- FWCI
- 20.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- public-domain
- Locations
- Annual Review of Economics (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Commission
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Social Media and Politics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Keywords
- internet, social media, political outcomes, voting, street protests, attitudes toward government, political polarization, xenophobia, fake news, internet censorship, authoritarian regimes, surveillance, propaganda, democracy
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review