How social media fed politics and strained relations during 2024 polls

First, we asked 10,314 respondents, spread across more than 200 cities and towns, to pick their favourite topics online. Lifestyle (including food, travel and fashion) came out on top, with almost three in five (57%) saying they keep track of such content. This was closely followed by science and technology (52%), sports (50%) and general entertainment (49%).

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Politics was the fifth most popular topic, with 47% saying they follow such content, ahead of finance (43%) and the national economy (40%). The Gen Z (or post-millennials, those born after 1996) were much more likely to follow these three topics, as were men compared to women.

But also notable is the fact that 37% of the respondents who follow politics on social media reported having faced negative interactions online due to their political engagement in the six months before the survey (the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls). The survey was held in July 2024.

The survey was the latest in a biannual series conducted by Mint in association with YouGov India and Delhi-based think tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR). Conducted since 2018, the online survey throws light on the beliefs, choices, and anxieties of India’s young urban population.

Online abuse, strained relationships

The younger generation, men, higher-income and more educated cohorts, and those who show strong partisan leanings are also more likely to be active on social media in the first place, as we found in the survey's December 2023 round. When asked how often they engaged in online political discussions, 30% had said “always", and 23% had picked “frequently". Among those who “always" engaged, 46% had reported harassment for their political views, the highest across categories. The last round also found that those from religious minorities, marginalized castes, or sexual minorities were more likely to report online harassment for their political views.

However, the latest round found an increase in respondents reporting negative interactions online due to political views. In 2023, close to 32% said so, but when the timeframe closed in on the Lok Sabha polls (roughly the first half of 2024), the share was 37%. The increase was the sharpest among post-millennials, from 34% to 41%, followed by millennials (38%, up from 33%).

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Those with strong political leanings (labelled ‘strong partisans’ in the survey) faced the most harassment online (48% reported it in 2024, against 43% in 2023). (This is based on the partisan index, which is based on how deeply respondents identify with their favourite political party. Those who are more emphatic in taking the party’s criticism as a personal insult and feel good about its praise or feel a connection with fellow supporters are classed as ‘strong partisans’; the rest are moderates and weak partisans.)

Nearly 40% of respondents reported having their personal relationships strained due to differences in political views in the first half of 2024. This was the highest for the youngest cohort (41%), followed by millennials (38%) and pre-millennials (33%). Strong partisans reported greater strain in their personal relationships, with more than half (56%) of them saying so, followed by moderate partisans (32%) and weak partisans (18%).

Who to trust?

Within the context of the 18th Lok Sabha elections, the survey also asked respondents the level of trust they deemed in various sources for vital information on the elections. Newspapers were the most trusted source for information, with 39% trusting them "a lot" and only 12% not trusting them. TV news channels followed, with 32% expressing high trust; meanwhile, 22% did not trust them. Online-only news portals were somewhat trusted, with 25% indicating high trust but 22% distrusting them.

Social media was viewed with greater scepticism: 29% did not trust online posts, while only 20% had high trust. Trust in social media influencers and social-media posts from political parties was also low. Messages shared on WhatsApp were deemed to be the least trusted source; 45% of the respondents didn’t trust them, and only 15% had high trust.

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In the December 2023 round, we asked respondents which forms of misleading news or information they had encountered in the past year. Half (51%) of the respondents had reported coming across false information aimed at discrediting a political opponent on social media. Half also came across misleading or incomplete headlines, and 45% found the use of old images or videos out of context. Wrongful attribution of quotes to political leaders (39%) and the prevalence of morphed images (36%) were also reported. It is quite revealing that those who reported negative online interactions based on their political views were also more likely to say that they had encountered these forms of misleading news or information than those who did not face negative interactions online.

Social media platforms are seen with significant distrust and in the run-up to the elections, more people reported facing online harassment for political engagement on these platforms. Differences in political views are also found to be putting a strain on personal relationships. These findings indicate the polarizing impact of the current state of politics in both personal and public spheres.

(The authors are associated with CPR.)

This is the fifth part of a series about the findings of the 12th round of the survey. The previous parts covered political attitudes, middle-class perceptions, and views on welfare measures. These surveys are skewed towards urban, well-to-do netizens, with 90% of respondents falling under the NCCS-A socio-economic category.

Part 1 (14 October): 2024 polls changed the electoral pitch — but only a little

Part 2 (15 October): Making sense of urban India’s political faultlines

Part 3 (21 October): India’s middle-class riddle: How much do you need to be called rich?

Part 4 (22 October): India’s freebie paradox: Voters dislike it but want some things for free