Understanding the ideological divide online
Algorithms used by social media companies in drawing in and retaining users have been the subject of scrutiny for several years now. Spanning multiple election cycles and a once-in-a-century pandemic, the debates centre around a simple question: Is social media dividing people? Starting from 2008, when Barack Obama first used social media for a political campaign to the divisive 2016 and 2020 elections that saw disinformation play a prominent role, the role of social media, and its spillover effects into real-world politics, has been hotly debated. Roughly a decade after social media was first used by the Bharatiya Janata Party to corral millions of young supporters, the proliferation of social media has led to armies of followers, and trolls, on both sides of the political divide. The social contexts and digital landscapes of the US and India may be different, but a better understanding of the link between social media and political ideology is imperative to counteracting the harmful effects of disinformation.
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