How do Echo Chambers in Social Media Cause Political Polarization?

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Jan 9, 2024

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How do echo chambers in the age of the internet impact political polarization? A big part of our lives is dominated by our technology since we carry the world in our pocket. On average how many hours do you think you spend consuming media on your phone a day? Two? Six? Somewhere in between? Whether you spend a small or a large amount of time on your phone, media, specifically social media plays a role in your life. Social media and ads are curated for us though data and algorithms. The goal of a user on social media is to connect, share, and view things. The goal of the media companies that run apps or newspapers is to retain users and readers so many people are using their product. To keep users scrolling and spending time consuming media, companies have introduced algorithms to show users a feed that is tailed for them. Our algorithm is personalized to keep us hooked as consumers. Since we are fed content that is tailored for us using an algorithm, it can create an echo chamber. An echo chamber is created by a constant confirmation bias. We keep interacting with things that we already believe or like, and in turn related content gets shown to us constantly. What we like gets reaffirmed in our minds and on our feeds and can create an echo chamber. We contribute to the echo chamber without realizing it. As Adam Greenwood pointed out in his Ted Talk, we post content for the validation of others in the form of likes, comments, and shares. If we are posting to get that validation, we subconsciously post content that will be agreeable and that we think will get likes from our followers which also creates an Echo Chamber. An echo chamber can seem harmless, especially if what shows up on our feed is animal or travel content; unfortunately, this is not always the reality. Echo chambers cater to our preferences in all areas and can become dangerous when pertaining to politics or any other extreme belief. An example of the dangers of echo chambers in politics is when pro-Trump

extremists stormed the White House in 2020 after hearing the results of the election. A report from NYU Stern Center for Human Rights and Business , analyzes the impact of social media on political polarization “In the U.S., where partisan divisiveness has reached new extremes.” The authors of the report agree that while polarization had already existed before social media, social media intensifies it. In the case of the Trump raids, social media did not only intensify the problem but helped the like-minded individuals organize themselves and create a real world outcome. As explained by Paolo Barbera, “social networking sites allow politically likeminded individuals to find one another and in this environment are exposed to information that reinforces their belief.” When you are seeing information that affirms the thoughts in your mind and people call for discussion on social media sites, they believe what they think even more and create their narrative. Does this always lead to political polarization? Not necessarily but it does lead to echo chambers and filter bubbles and in specific contexts it can lead to political polarization. When do echo chambers lead to political polarization? Typically, when political polarization occurs on the internet, it is around a controversial issue where the right and the left side of politics don’t agree. So, what is the difference between a healthy difference of opinion and extreme difference which leads to polarization? Political polarization becomes dangerous when the public opinion influences the way people begin to feel about the government. In 2020 during Covid 19 there were many different opinions, that split amongst Democrats and Republicans. The scholarly article Social Media Polarization and Echo Chambers in the Context of Covid 19: Case Study , the authors focus on polarization caused on social media during Covid 19 because “research shows that Covid-19 is discourse is highly politicized.” Through this study it was “observed that right-leaning users were noticeable more vocal and active in the production and consumption of Covid-19 information.” (Ferrara, Jiang, Ren. 2021). In the study, the

researchers measured polarization through tweets and retweets containing language that would correlate Covid-19 and collected data from 232,000 users. The relationship explored was the one between the author of the tweets and those retweeting the tweets to see if the echo chamber truly existed. The study found the most polarized users were mostly occupied in their echo chambers and only retweeted things that were in line with their already existing beliefs. Through the study, there was a huge demonstration of how political polarization can be dangerous because “Covid- 19 is a matter of public health” (Ferrara, Jiang, Ren. 2021). Instead of focusing on the tweets that users made the study focuses on the polarization patterns of the users, and when thinking about the information I saw on Instagram at the time, I can remember the different things I was seeing on my feed at the time. A friend of mine would unfollow or debate with people who were still traveling, not wearing masks, or not getting vaccinated. Unfollowing someone because they have a different opinion makes you unexposed to these views. Even though Covid-19 was a matter of public health and backed by science, a lot of right leaning people were against masks and vaccinations. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the polarization caused some people to largely debate over wearing makes and could give you a million reasons why their point was valid while finding 100s of videos to “prove” that they were right. Political figures also shared their opinions on Covid-19 and if someone with extreme views heard a figure of power affirming their belief, they would naturally affirm their belief. The danger of polarization during Covid-19 led to the situation being in control of our lives for a long time. The increased exposure to echo chambers has fueled political polarization, especially in the United States. Although it is likely the polarization already exists before the user logs onto social media apps or the internet, social media and the internet become another form of journalism for some people while connecting like-minded individuals. Connecting like-minded

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individuals is not always harmful, but since social media apps give people a place to find evidence and listen to opinions of others that may reaffirm their political belief. Political polarization and echo chambers become dangerous when they revolve around extremist views or misinformation as demonstrated by Covid-19 and the Trump raids of 2020 when people spent more time on their phones. To become more aware of echo chambers and not develop extremist views, people should be mindful of the content they consume. Although it is personalized for each individual user, it does not mean that that user is the only one correct. When people get stuck in thinking certain things are right and wrong, it creates divide whether it be through politics or personal matters. Through collective effort and government intervention in laws surrounding how social media algorithms should stop the spread of misinformation political polarization.

References: Bail, Argyle, L. P., Brown, T. W., Bumpus, J. P., Chen, H., Hunzaker, M. B. F., Lee, J., Mann, M., Merhout, F., & Volfovsky, A. (2018). Exposure to opposing views on social media can increase political polarization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS , 115 (37), 9216– 9221. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1804840115 Barberá, P. (2020). Social Media, Echo Chambers, and Political Polarization. In N. Persily & J. Tucker (Eds.), Social Media and Democracy: The State of the Field, Prospects for Reform (SSRC Anxieties of Democracy, pp. 34-55). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved July 1, 2023 from https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge- core/content/view/333A5B4DE1B67EFF7876261118CCFE19/9781108835558c3_34- 55.pdf/social-media-echo-chambers-and-political-polarization.pdf (Jada) Barrett, P., Hendrix, J., Sims, G. (2021) How Tech Platforms Fuel U.S. Political Polarization and What Government Can Do About It. Brookings. Retrieved July 1, 2023 from https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-tech-platforms-fuel-u-s-political-polarization-and-what- government-can-do-about-it/ (Jada) Barrett, P., Hendrix, J., Sims, G. (2021) Fueling the Fire: How Media Intensifies Political Polarization – and What Can be Done About It. NYU Stern. Retrieved July 1, 2023 from https://bhr.stern.nyu.edu/polarization-report-page (Jada) Bodrunova, Blekanov, I., Smoliarova, A., & Litvinenko, A. (2019). Beyond Left and Right: Real- World Political Polarization in Twitter Discussions on Inter-Ethnic Conflicts. Media and Communication (Lisboa) , 7 (3), 119–132. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v7i3.1934 Greenwood, A. (2019). Challenge the Eco Chamber [Video]. TED Talks. Retrieved July 1, 2023 from https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_greenwood_challenge_the_echo_chamber_jan_2019 . (Jada) Jiang, Ren, X., & Ferrara, E. (2021). Social Media Polarization and Echo Chambers in the Context of COVID-19: Case Study. JMIRx Med, 2(3), e29570–e29570. https://doi.org/10.2196/2f9570