Social Media, Misinformation, and Attitudes Towards Democracy in Germany During the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Social media platforms are a double-edged sword, serving as sources of both critical information and harmful misinformation. This duality has sparked debates about their potential role in threatening democracy, boosting radical parties, and amplifying authoritarian and populist attitudes. While much research has focused on how misinformation and social media usage can influence voting for radical and populist parties, research on how diffuse and specific support for democracy are affected by the level of misinformation is more scarce. This study examines how satisfaction with democracy, democratic legitimacy, and adherence to liberal democratic principles are shaped by social media usage and citizens’ susceptibility to misinformation. Employing novel data from an online survey conducted in Germany in June 2021, we show that political information sources and misinformation exposure have a greater impact on perceptions of democratic functioning than on support for democracy as a political ideal. Furthermore, for citizens prone to believing misinformation, media consumption habits have no significant impact highlighting a critical blind spot in addressing democracy’s resilience in the digital age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]