Introduction

The goal of this book is to synthesize the existing research on social media and democracy. We present reviews of the literature on disinformation, polarization, echo chambers, hate speech, bots, political advertising, and new media. In addition, wecanvass the literature on reform proposals to address the widely perceived threats todemocracy. We seek to examine the current state of knowledge on social media anddemocracy, to identify the many knowledge gaps and obstacles to research in this area,and to chart a course for future research. We hope to advocate for this new field ofstudy and to suggest that universities, foundations, private firms, and governmentsshould commit to funding and supporting this research.