Crisis of Democracy, Social Media and the Digital Age: The Narrative of Specialists from Spain, Mexico and Peru

The contemporary discussion about the political participation of citizens starts from the recognition of a new stage, but in which the consequences in terms of public deliberation and the strengthening of different democratic expressions is debatable. In order to examine the validity of some of the conclusions of studies that were carried out when cyberpolitics was an incipient phenomenon, a qualitative study was conducted in which thirty social science specialists in three Ibero-American countries were interviewed: Spain, Mexico and Peru. In summary, an important part of the interviewees agrees to question the true contribution of social media to strengthening the development of a plural democracy, while they also note both risks and opportunities regarding the quality of the information that is shared and consumed by users in the digital age.