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The Negative Impact of Social Media on Politics

As social media evolves, people can now freely post their opinions and debate on social media
very easily. Social media has given a big impact of the opportunity to present information
of any subject including politics, without being controlled by a state authority. Thus, it has
opened up an access to a variety of knowledge, facts, events to people. As much as liberty
of opinion and information is open to people, people take advantage of this opportunity both
positively and even negatively. However, despite all the benefits of social media platforms,
concerns about the negative impact are increasing.
In the political field, fake news and rumors regarding the political issue or politicians has
become a serious problem. The social media algorithm, which plays the big part of this, is
designed in a way to offer everyone an information that best matches their interests and
views, using the data provided by the user themselves. Due to the fact that people mostly
see what fits to their individual opinions and the difficulty of seeing the opposite statement,
people increasingly reinforce their thoughts without even considering the arguments of the
opposing side. Thus, when people face fake news, following their already entrenched opinion,
they accept fake and distorted news as truth without questioning and doubting it at all.
This, indeed, enables manipulation political. Because of the availability of a large amount
of information, verifying its accuracy also becomes significantly more difficult. Young people
are easily exposed to the negative influence, since they have lack of experience and the
incapability to differentiate true from false information.
In conclusion, social media sites have the capacity to advance political discourse but also to
undermine democratic values. The challenges that arise should therefore receive much more
attention because they may be resolved, but doing so requires a greater understanding of the
issue among individuals and the government.

Kim Ga-eun
(English-Spanish dept. 1st grade)
kimjenn1ferno@gmail.com

Incheon Foreign Lansuage High School

The Negative Impact of Social Media on Politics