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Social media users experience more political hostility in less economically equal and less democratic societies
Bor, Alexander Marie, Antoine Pradella, Lea Petersen, Michael Bang
Bor, Alexander
Marie, Antoine
Pradella, Lea
Petersen, Michael Bang
Title / Series / Name
Nature Human Behaviour
Publication Volume
Publication Issue
Pages
Editors
Keywords
Social Psychology
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Behavioral Neuroscience
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Behavioral Neuroscience
Files
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Bor-Alexander2_2026.pdf
Adobe PDF, 2.94 MB
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/28977
Abstract
There is widespread concern about the hostility of political discussions on social media, but there is no consensus about the underlying dynamics. In particular, the relationship between online hostility and the broader sociopolitical context has received less attention, in part because of limited research outside Western countries. Here we report results from observational data collected through quota-sampled online surveys in 30 countries across six continents (N = 15,202) about experiences of online hostility. Our findings show that people in less democratic and less economically equal countries experience more hostility online. We also found that, in every country, respondents who are hostile online are also hostile offline and that these people score higher in status-seeking motivations. Exploratory analyses suggest that less democratic societies include more status-motivated individuals and young men—groups showing higher hostility on average. Overall, these findings highlight how online political hostility is intertwined with wider societal tensions.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2026-04-03
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1038/s41562-026-02432-5