From feeds to fury: how social media news use fuels radicalism and contentious politics

This study investigates the pathways through which social media news consumption fuels contentious political participation and support for political violence, with particular attention to the mediating roles of Left- and Right-wing radicalism and perceived systemic victimhood. Drawing on a survey of a quota-sampled online panel of U.S. adults recruited via Qualtrics (N = 760), the findings show that political news engagement on social media is positively associated with both forms of ideological radicalism. This radicalism, in turn, heightens perceptions of systemic victimhood, which subsequently predicts greater willingness to engage in contentious political participation and to endorse political violence. Together, these results highlight social media’s active role in intensifying radical ideologies, facilitating moral disengagement, and converting perceived grievances into deviant political behavior.