The Political Economy of Social Media

EditedbyFilipeR.Campante,RubenDuranteandAndreaTesei ThePoliticalEconomyofSocialMedia ThePoliticalEconomyofSocialMedia WITHSUPPORTOFCEPRPARISFOUNDINGPARTNERS CEPRPRESS CentreforEconomicPolicyResearch187boulevardSaint-Germain 75007,Paris,France 33GreatSuttonStreetLondon,EC1V0DX,UK Tel:+44(0)2071838801 Email:cepr@cepr.orgWeb:www.cepr.org ISBN:978-1-912179-80-0 Copyright©CEPRPress ThePoliticalEconomyofSocialMedia EditedbyFilipeR.Campante,RubenDuranteandAndreaTesei CENTREFORECONOMICPOLICYRESEARCH(CEPR) TheCentreforEconomicPolicyResearch(CEPR)isanetworkofover1,700researcheconomistsbasedmostlyinEuropeanuniversities.TheCentre’sgoalistwofold:topromoteworld-classresearch,andtogetthepolicy-relevantresultsintothehandsofkeydecision-makers.CEPR’sguidingprincipleis‘Researchexcellencewithpolicyrelevance’.ItwasfoundedintheUKin1983,whereitisaCharity,andinNovember2019CEPRinitiatedthecreationofanAssociationunderFrenchlaw,inordertoprovideavehicleforanexpansioninFrance.ThemembersoftheConseild’AdministrationoftheAssociationareidenticaltotheUKBoardofTrustees. CEPRisindependentofallpublicandprivateinterestgroups.IttakesnoinstitutionalstandoneconomicpolicymattersanditscorefundingcomesfromitsInstitutionalMembers,projectsthatitrunsandsalesofpublications.Becauseitdrawsonsuchalargenetworkofresearchers,itsoutputreflectsabroadspectrumofindividualviewpointsaswellasperspectivesdrawnfromcivilsociety.CEPRresearchmayincludeviewsonpolicy,buttheTrustees/membersoftheConseild’AdministrationoftheAssociationdonotgivepriorreviewtoitspublications.TheopinionsexpressedinthisreportarethoseoftheauthorsandnotthoseofCEPR. ChairoftheBoardSirCharlieBeanFounderandHonoraryPresidentRichardPortes PresidentBeatriceWederdiMauro VicePresidentsMaristellaBotticiniPhilippeMartinUgoPanizza MarReguantHélèneRey ChiefExecutiveOfficerTessaOgden Contents Forewordvii Introduction9 FilipeR.Campante,RubenDuranteandAndreaTesei Section1Welfareeffectsofsocialmedia 1Thewelfareeffectsofsocialmedia25 HuntAllcott,LucaBraghieri,SarahEichmeyerandMatthewGentzkow 2Socialmediaandmentalhealth31 LucaBraghieri,Ro’eeLevyandAlexeyMakarin Section2Socialmediaandvoters 3Socialmedia,newsconsumptionandpolarisation47 Ro’eeLevy 4Homophily,groupsizeandthediffusionofpoliticalinformationinsocialnetworks59 YoshHalberstamandBrianKnight 5Politicalimplicationsoftheriseofmobilebroadbandinternet67 SergeiGuriev,NikitaMelnikovandEkaterinaZhuravskaya 6Mobileinternetandtheriseofcommunitarianpolitics77 MarcoManacorda,GuidoTabelliniandAndreaTesei 7Theeffectofsocialmediaonelections:EvidencefromtheUnitedStates89 ThomasFujiwara,KarstenMüllerandCarloSchwarz Section3Socialmediaandpoliticians 8Politics2.0:Themultifacetedeffectofbroadbandinternetonpoliticalparticipation101 FilipeCampante,RubenDuranteandFrancescoSobbrio 9Newtechnologiesandpoliticalcompetition:Theimpactofsocialmediacommunicationonpoliticalcontributions111 MariaPetrova,AnanyaSenandPinarYildirim Section4Socialmediaandmobilisation 10Socialmediaandprotestparticipation:EvidencefromRussia121 RubenEnikolopov,AlexeyMakarinandMariaPetrova 11Socialmediaandmobilisation131 LeopoldoFergussonandCarlosMolina 12Liberationtechnology:MobilephonesandpoliticalmobilisationinAfrica143 MarcoManacordaandAndreaTesei Section5Socialmediaandhatred 13SocialmediaandXenophobia:EvidencefromRussia153 LeonardoBursztyn,GeorgyEgorov,RubenEnikolopovandMariaPetrova 14Cansocialmediaspurofflinehatred?163 KarstenMüllerandCarloSchwarz Section6Socialmediainautocracies 15ThepoliticaleconomyofsocialmediainChina175 BeiQin,DavidStrömbergandYanhuiWu 16Socialmediainautocracies185 DavidY.Yang Section7Socialmediaandlegacymedia 17Socialmediaandlegacymedia195 SophieHatteandEkaterinaZhuravskaya 18Contagionfromsocialmediatomainstreammedia203 JuliaCagé,NicolasHervéandBéatriceMazoyer Foreword Theriseofsocialmediahasprofoundlytransformedsociety,reshapingcommunicationandinformationconsumption.Itswidespreadusehasplacedunprecedentedpressureonnormsandinstitutions,challengingthemtoadapttoarapidlychangingsocialandpoliticallandscape.Itslegacy,meanwhile,isalreadybeingfiercelycontestedbyacademics. ThiseBookbringstogetheradiversearrayofcontributionsfocusingonthepoliticaleconomicsofsocialmedia,providingacomprehensiveexplorationoftheimpactoftheinternetandsocialmediaontheglobalpoliticallandscape.Thechapterscontributevaluableinsightsintothewelfareeffectsofsocialmedia,highlightingitsaddictivenatureandnegativeramificationsonmentalhealth.Theresearchalsoexplorestheinfluenceofsocialmediaonvoterbehaviour,includingitsroleinexacerbatingrecentpolarisationtrendsthroughthecreationoflike-minded‘echochambers’andtheselectivedisseminationofpoliticalinformation,whichcanbothenhancetransparencyandcontributetopoliticaldiscontent. Otherchaptersexplorethedynamicrelationshipbetweenpoliticiansandsocialmedia,revealinghowtheseplatformsenablepoliticianstoeffectivelyraiseresourcesandmobilisevoters,atafractionofthecostoftraditionalmethods.Theauthorsuncovertheinfluentialroleofsocialmediainshapingelections,butnotalwaysinaconsistentdirection.Theresearchals