Social media has dramatically changed the ways that people of all ages encounter and engage with news. But young people in particular are drivers of the move from traditional to social media as sources for news (Newman et al., 2023). Research has found that those who follow news via social media are less likely to learn about a diverse set of general political views than those who follow traditional news media (Shehata and Stromback 2018). A lack of exposure to diverse political views reinforces ideological and affective polarization (Kubin & von Sikorski 2021). Additionally, young people are also more likely than adults to exhibit low levels of trust in the political system and in media, and earlier research has established a relationship between low levels of trust in politics and media and a heightened vulnerability to believing disinformation (Zimmermann & Kohring 2020).
RIMMA2025 - International Conference on Forecasting, Preparedness, Warning, and Response
Visualization, Communication, and Information Management