Autor: Gálvez Ramiro H.(*), Di Tella Rafael(**), Ernesto Schargrodsky(***)
Institución: (*)UTDT, (**)Harvard Business School, NBER, (***)UTDT-CAF-CONICET
Año: 2022
JEL: J11, J21
Resumen:
We study how two groups, those inside echo chambers vs those outside, react to varying their social media access (Twitter) during a political event. Our experimental treatments mimic two strategies often suggested as a way to limit polarization on social media: they expose people to counter-attitudinal data, and they get people to switch-off social media. Our main result is that subjects that started inside echo chambers became more polarized when these two strategies were implemented. The only scenario where they did not become more polarized is when they did not even experience the political event. Interestingly, subjects that were outside echo chambers before our study began experienced no change (or a reduction) in polarization. We also include a group of non-Twitter users in order to have an alternative benchmark of polarization levels.