Social Media and Democracy: Features AndObstacles

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the role of social media in democracy. For this reason, the paper started by assuming an apparent contradiction in the role of these social platforms.On the one hand, it has many features that can support democracy, and these features are: political participation, citizen journalism, and virtual public sphere.On the other hand, it has many obstacles that can undermine democracy at the same time. These obstacles are: the spread of fake news, echo chambers, filter bubbles, political polarization.