The limits of social media as a source of political information during routine and crisis times across 17 countries

Recent studies on political knowledge suggest people learn little about political events and societal issues from social media. Potentially, social media are a more effective source of information during periods of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This study draws upon a two-wave survey tapping into people’s online information habits and political knowledge. To test for the potential impact of the health crisis, we make use of panel survey (2019-2020) in 17 Western democracies. Results show that the use of social media across countries is not positively associated to levels of political knowledge virtually across the board. More surprisingly, also in times of crisis people did not learn via social media.