Viral Media as a Means of Closing the Knowledge Gap: TikTok & Qualified Immunity

• In Event: Political Communication Virtual Poster Session
  In Virtual Poster Session: Political Communication Virtual Poster Session I

Abstract

Social media is used by nearly three-fourths of all Americans, and so-called “viral” videos are seen by millions across these platforms. Very little scholarly work explores how these viral videos can affect political knowledge, particularly through incidental learning by those otherwise not exposed to political information. We address this lacuna with an experiment embedded in a nationally representative survey of 400 Americans. We test the effect of one particular video from the TikTok platform on respondents’ basic understanding of the legal doctrine qualified immunity, relative to a more traditional online information source and a pure control. We find that, at baseline, qualified immunity is not well understood by the American public, and that the Tik Tok video increases understanding of the legal doctrine significantly and to a similar degree as the traditional online information source. Furthermore, this effect is most pronounced in low education individuals. These findings provide preliminary evidence that incidental information within viral videos on social media may help to close the knowledge gap between individuals of low and high education.

Authors

• Robin Bayes, Northwestern University

• Sam Gubitz, Kent Denver School