Social media has increasingly been a source of attention and attraction for many people—voters, researchers, politicians, proponents and opponents of democracy, and others. Roughly a decade ago, social media was seen as having a largely supportive function aimed at enhancing communication between people. The exponential increase in the use of the Internet for sharing information and data in recent years has been a remarkable phenomenon; nevertheless, perhaps more noteworthy is how all different echelons of society have embraced social media and the way that it ostensibly helps democratize society. However, over the last 10 years a set of social media outlets that had first been used to connect individuals were then embraced as a communication tool by companies and also by state and nonstate organizations to such an extent that social media has now developed into an “institution” used to promote the democratization of some aspects of society while simultaneously damaging the democratic processes of others. This rapid and complex process of development for social media has been further intensified by the global waves of populism in the mid- to late 2010s, several social upheavals on a massive scale following the global financial crisis in 2008, and perhaps most strongly by the COVID-19 pandemic that has and will shape a generation of people.

The objective of this volume, edited by Nathaniel Persily and Joshua Tucker, is to discuss the influence of social media on democracy from a rich variety of perspectives. Taken collectively, the contributors mainly argue that a solid empirical understanding of social media is needed not only to prepare people and systems for the digital future but also to improve the health of our democracies. This claim is grounded on an understanding that is implicitly brought forward in the book: social media is a complex phenomenon, the potential uses of which have not yet been fully unearthed. Its complexity is exemplified not only by the use and misuse of social media by the Black Lives Matter movement, protests in support of George Floyd, the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections, and the COVID-19 pandemic but also by potential surprises and problems awaiting us in the near future, such as the growth in textual misinformation and “deep fakes.” The editors bring together cutting-edge research that can guide our future pursuit of democracy and help researchers and practitioners alike bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Social Media and Democracy has numerous aspects that are worthy of praise. The level of organization and structure in the book is quite striking. In each chapter, contributors pay careful attention to the main arguments from the scholarly literature on the topics under consideration. Similarly, each contribution serves as a hub to other interesting texts in the field and therefore can serve as a point of reference for junior and senior researchers. Contributors made a conscious effort to reopen and discuss the fundamental definitions of the field both theoretically and empirically. This, combined with the way Social Media and Democracy is structured, helps the reader understand the fundamentals thoroughly before the connection between social media and democracy is elaborated. However, the volume is also designed to be (at least in some chapters) revolutionary: it not only revisits the existing literature and suggests remedies to extant problems but also offers concrete suggestions that may shape the future of social media and democracy.

The book starts by offering two opposing views that structure the literature: that technology is important for democracy and that technology is not important for democracy. The relative strengths and weaknesses of these two views are charted in subsequent contributions. Chapter 2 by Andrew M. Guess and Benjamin A. Lyons highlights the distinctions between misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda. Guess and Lyons further provide a fruitful discussion on the good and bad uses of social media by giving examples from the 2016 US presidential elections. Chapter 3 by Pablo Barbera contrasts the effects of communities of like-minded people on opinion formation to the effects of algorithms by using the term “echo chambers” to describe internet communities. Chapter 4 by Alexandra A. Siegel discusses the definition of hate speech from contrasting perspectives and the value of different empirical approaches to studying it. Chapter 5 by Samuel C. Woolley compares and contrasts different types of bots (political bots and bots for the democratic good) and the terminology used to describe their activity, including “information warfare,” “online astroturfing,” and “cyberturfing.” Chapter 6 by Erika Franklin Fowler, Michael M. Franz, and Travis N. Ridout discusses political campaigns and online political advertising rules and how different federal and state regulations in the United States complement and contrast each other. Chapter 7 by Rasmus Kleis Nielsen and Richard Fletcher considers the importance of social media in helping “democratic creative destruction” by looking at the phases of restoration, renewal, retreat, and relegation. Chapter 8 by Chloe Wittenberg and Adam J. Berinsky highlights the significance of misinformation by asking an important question, Why does misinformation linger? The authors discuss in detail two theories: “continued influence effect” and “worldview backfire effects.” Chapter 9 by Francis Fukuyama and Andrew Grotto compares media regulation in the United States and Europe, proposing that decentralized media structures work better for democracy. The authors also offer some policy suggestions to strengthen democracy through social media. Chapter 10 by Daphne Keller and Paddy Leerssen is very helpful for policy makers, because it offers a set of structured empirical questions about platform content takedowns. Chapter 11 by Tim Hwang focuses on policy and discusses the importance of changing regulations for preventing misinformation. Chapter 12 by Robert Gorwa and Timothy Garton Ash highlights the necessity of transparency as a “moral good” and provides a helpful discussion of what type of online transparency should be sought. The concluding chapter by the editors is one of the most interesting parts of the book: it offers innovative ideas on regulating the relationship between people and social media companies through data ownership and a data tax, for example.

Social Media and Democracy is an excellent book that manages to achieve multiple objectives in a relatively short space. The scholarly quality of the contributors is very high, and the depth of discussion is praiseworthy. One avenue that the book does not follow is providing a clearer understanding of the quantitative relationship between social media and democracy. Thus, the book does not (and actually does not aim to) determine the economic impact of the recommendations proposed by many of the contributors to regulate social media in the name of improving democracy. This would be a useful task for another project. Social Media and Democracy is a great reference for both researchers and practitioners working on a wide variety of crucial questions that the volume compels us to examine.