The effects of social media on democracy and political polarization in Turkey from the perspective of Turkish students

The usage of the internet and social media in Turkey is constantly growing, simultaneously, traditional news outlets are getting weaker. This situation indicates an alteration in the republic's information landscape. Social and political polarization was always portrayed in the political scene in Turkey. Even when the power shifted, the division remained sustained. This study aims at finding if there is a link between social media and political polarization in Turkey. To reach the goals of this study and collect needed data, qualitative and quantitative approaches were applied. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to (370) Turkish university students. The questionnaire using google forms consisted of 25 (multiple-choice, Likert scale, and an open question), conducted during the period (April 26 - May 16). The sample consisted of university students across undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. levels in Turkey aged between 18 – 50+. An online focus group discussion was well applied to have a more in-depth understanding of the research problem. It was conducted with six students also from different university education levels. The results of the study showed that the perspectives of the Turkish Students were that social media had a weak to moderate effect on political polarization in Turkey. Furthermore, the results of the study indicated that the studied sample of Turkish students does not rely on social media platforms to obtain political news, and most of them do not follow political leaders on social media. In addition, communication platforms did not encourage Turkish students to express themselves, as well as an indication that social media algorithms have contributed to a medium degree in creating filter bubbles through the content they suggest to users.