New research project on strategic polarisation on digital platforms

Content that exacerbates political conflicts and promotes highly polarising positions spreads particularly rapidly on social media. At the same time, trust in democratic institutions is declining amongst certain sections of the population. The research team is investigating whether and how these developments are linked – and what role digital platforms play in this. To this end, the researchers are analysing content on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube and conducting surveys. Using data from digital platforms, they are investigating how such content is disseminated, how visible it is to users, what role algorithmic recommendation systems play in this, and how this affects political attitudes.

A key focus is on the use of new data access rights under Article 40 of the European Digital Services Act (DSA). For the first time, this enables the research team to systematically investigate what political content people actually see on platforms and how this is amplified or dampened by algorithms.

“Digital platforms are increasingly shaping how people perceive political information and experience social conflicts. With the new opportunities offered by the Digital Services Act, we can, for the first time, comprehensively investigate these dynamics and better understand how polarisation arises and operates,” says Dr Jakob Ohme, head of the Digital News and Society research group at the Weizenbaum Institute and project manager.

The findings are to be put into practice straight away: together with the project partners, the research team is developing digital learning modules for the “MitMachen” app run by the “Wir sind der Osten” initiative, as well as workshops for schools and civil society organisations. The aim is to help people better recognise and contextualise polarising content, and to engage with it in a reflective manner.

Funding is provided as part of the Volkswagen Foundation’s “Transformational Knowledge on Democracies in Transition” initiative, which supports interdisciplinary collaborative projects at the interface between academia and civil society.