‘More Social’ Means ‘More Flawed’: How New Media is Contributing to the Breakdown of Polish Democracy

Abstract

It is no coincidence that anti-democratic changes in the recent years in Poland occurred alongside the rapid development of social media. Technologically advanced methods of discourse management (e.g., behavioral targeting) have successfully exploited the poor understanding of social media mechanisms among Poles1 (Drzewiecki, 2010) and created a fertile ground for undermining liberal democracy. Social media have endangered public debate by facilitating the spread of hate speech, fake news, deep fakes, trivialization of public discourse, astroturfing,2 and the use of bots for propaganda purposes. It seems that in the young and unstable Polish democracy, the combination of anti-democratic forces and dynamic development of social media poses a unique threat to the development of society.