Internet Use and Understanding Democracy in Africa

Internet Use and Understanding Democracy in Africa | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Internet Use and Understanding Democracy in Africa Mathilde Maurel, Thomas Pernet This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8678000/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper examines the impact of using the Internet and social networks as sources of information on individuals’ understanding of democracy. The analysis draws on data from the sixth round of the Afrobarometer survey, conducted in 2014 across a sample of African countries encompassing both democratic and non-democratic regimes. Despite its importance for shaping political preferences and behavior, this topic has received limited attention in the economic literature. The sixth round of Afrobarometer is particularly well suited to this analysis, as it is the only wave that includes both openended and closed-ended questions on individuals’ understanding of democracy. We prioritize open-ended responses, which we argue better capture respondents’ conceptual understanding, while using closed-ended questions to assess robustness. Open-ended answers are systematically structured and analyzed using the ChatGPT tool to extract meaningful information. Our identification strategy exploits the interaction between lightning activity and 3G coverage. Lightning-induced disruptions generate exogenous variation in Internet access, enabling causal inference. The results show that reliance on the Internet and social networks as information sources is, on average, associated with a negative bias in the understanding of democracy. This distortion extends to perceptions of freedom of expression and institutional corruption, while perceptions of electoral fairness are positively affected. Importantly, these effects are highly heterogeneous across information environments. The negative bias is driven primarily by countries that are more exposed to censorship and information control, where online content is more likely to be filtered or distorted. By contrast, in low-censorship environments, Internet use has a positive and statistically significant impact on the understanding of democracy. Given the strong positive association we document between democratic understanding and preference for democratic systems, these findings suggest that the political consequences of Internet diffusion critically depend on the degree of censorship and media openness. Rather than uniformly shaping political attitudes, Internet use can either undermine or reinforce democratic preferences depending on the surrounding information environment. JEL Codes: G2, G32, L25, L6, Q53 Development Economics Internet news Democracy Misunderstanding of Democracy Africa Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8678000","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":579285328,"identity":"21709c91-ebed-4c07-aeb3-7d1abda3405c","order_by":0,"name":"Mathilde Maurel","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA7klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNCCAgY5BgbGBjCbDcSoIKjFgMEYSQtzA8MZIrQkNiB47Pi16LafMfvwwWBb+obbzW0SjDvs8vn4DzYwHNyDW4vZmRzjmTMMbuduuHMQqOVMsmWbBNDGA8/waDmQY8zMA9JyI7HZ+G8bswGbBGMD84cDeLScf2PM/MfgdroBUIsBY1u9ARvIYQfwabkBtIXB4HYCUEvjA8a2wwZsoKDAr+VZMWOPwW3DmWAtZ44DHZbYcACvlvPJmxl+VNyW57uR/uAA445qA/n+4w8f4NOCCqCxyUC0BoSWUTAKRsEoGAXIAADIf1g5gdP2oQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4543-4286","institution":"Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mathilde","middleName":"","lastName":"Maurel","suffix":""},{"id":579285329,"identity":"71e9c8b0-461c-46ee-a109-a9176a934441","order_by":1,"name":"Thomas Pernet","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Thomas","middleName":"","lastName":"Pernet","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-23 10:21:52","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8678000/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8678000/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":101222911,"identity":"4c851a40-ee2c-4f6e-b45c-cf7c19294e58","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-27 12:01:25","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":384369,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AFROBAROMETERDEMOCRACYfinal.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8678000/v1_covered_1ff9d772-c754-438a-bd26-24c8a69875bb.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eInternet Use and Understanding Democracy in Africa\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Internet news, Democracy, Misunderstanding of Democracy, Africa","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8678000/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8678000/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis paper examines the impact of using the Internet and social networks as sources of information on individuals’ understanding of democracy. The analysis draws on data from the sixth round of the Afrobarometer survey, conducted in 2014 across a sample of African countries encompassing both democratic and non-democratic regimes. Despite its importance for shaping political preferences and behavior, this topic has received limited attention in the economic literature. The sixth round of Afrobarometer is particularly well suited to this analysis, as it is the only wave that includes both openended and closed-ended questions on individuals’ understanding of democracy. We prioritize open-ended responses, which we argue better capture respondents’ conceptual understanding, while using closed-ended questions to assess robustness. Open-ended answers are systematically structured and analyzed using the ChatGPT tool to extract meaningful information.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur identification strategy exploits the interaction between lightning activity and 3G coverage. Lightning-induced disruptions generate exogenous variation in Internet access, enabling causal inference. The results show that reliance on the Internet and social networks as information sources is, on average, associated with a negative bias in the understanding of democracy. This distortion extends to perceptions of freedom of expression and institutional corruption, while perceptions of electoral fairness are positively affected.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImportantly, these effects are highly heterogeneous across information environments.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe negative bias is driven primarily by countries that are more exposed to censorship and information control, where online content is more likely to be filtered or distorted. By contrast, in low-censorship environments, Internet use has a positive and statistically significant impact on the understanding of democracy. 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