Social media, fragmentation, and polarization in the platformized public sphere: Making the case for WhatsApp research

As digital platforms increasingly mediate public communication and access to information, they do not only redefine the structural makeup of the public sphere but also impact the practices and outcomes of political deliberation, often giving room to concerns about heightened fragmentation and polarization. This paper critically assesses the link of social media with these two phenomena, juxtaposing traditional social networks with the rising prominence of private social media. Drawing from an extensive literature review, we argue that existing research is primarily focused on two algorithm-led public social media, Twitter and Facebook, which possess pro-diversity, weak-tie, heterophilic affordances sometimes argued to counter segregation and polarization. Non-algorithm-led private social media, such as WhatsApp, rather have a strong-tie, privacy-securing, homophilic architecture that connects with individuals’ tribalist drives and could better facilitate sectarian interactions and polarizing outcomes. Moreover, they rank among the most utilized platforms worldwide and incarnate prominent spaces for engaging with politics. However, their relationship with political talk fragmentation and polarization is comparatively under-researched. Focusing on the paradigmatic WhatsApp, we re-scrutinize the scarce corresponding literature, identify certain issues of concern, and call for the strengthening of a nascent research agenda around this platform. Our reviewing exercise emphasizes the importance of diversifying research to encompass the entire spectrum of social media’s influence on democratic processes.