Social Media Disruption: Messaging Mistrust in Latin America

More and more, political life in Latin America is playing out on
social media. What are the implications for democracy? Recent
elections in Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, and Mexico show that
social media can help to elevate political outsiders and spread
sophisticated misinformation. Survey data show that while
social-media users are more supportive than others of democratic
principles, they have more negative views of their political
systems. While there have been important innovations in combating
misinformation, policy makers must also focus on the underlying
conditions that are the fodder for social media’s ill effects:
political polarization and deepening public distrust of democratic
institutions.