PP442 Half Unit
The Politics of Tech, Social Media, and the Press
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Alexandra Cirone
Availability
This course is available on the Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-Columbia), Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-Sciences Po), Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-University of Toronto), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Hertie), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and NUS), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Tokyo), MPA in Data Science for Public Policy, MSc in Political Science (Political Behaviour), MSc in Public Policy and Administration, Master of Public Administration and Master of Public Policy. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
Priority will be given to SPP students followed by students on MSc in Political Science (Political Behaviour) and the MSc in Public Policy and Administration programmes. Students from other programmes should submit a statement in support of their request.
Deadline for application: 9am on the Monday of Autumn Term week 1 (including requests from School of Public Policy students). We aim to inform students of the outcome of their request by 12noon the following day, Tuesday of Autumn Term week 1.
For queries contact: spp.doubledegrees@lse.ac.uk
Course content
This course will review how unprecedented access to information via digital content, the internet, and social media has fundamentally changed politics and policy. It will present an overview of the current social and digital media market, covering Big Tech and how the digital age has changed traditional news consumption across the world. The first half of the course will also review social media and propaganda in democracies versus autocracies, and how social media has contributed to regime change, democratic backsliding, and the advent of hashtag activism and online mobilization of groups in society. The second half of the course uses academic studies in political behavior to teach to what extent individuals fall for and spread disinformation on social media, and how partisanship and polarization are making the problem worse. The course will conclude by discussing policy solutions to disinformation, the problem of regulating Big Tech, and the future of politics in the digital age. Students will engage these issues using analytical writing and a structured debate exercise. Through readings, discussions, documentaries, guest speakers, and written assignments, students will learn how to better evaluate the role of the media on politics.
Teaching
22 hours of lectures and 16.5 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.
Formative assessment
Essay plan
Students will submit a one page description of their intended chosen case study or political event for the summative essay, and will receive feedback on the case.
Indicative reading
Cirone, Alexandra. (2025). “Is Democracy Broken? Social Media Wants You To Think it Is,” in Roberts, K. and Beatty-Riedl, R. (eds), Democratic Backsliding, Cambridge University Press.
Jungherr, A., Rivero, G., & Gayo-Avello, D. (2020). Retooling Politics: How Digital Media Are Shaping Democracy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sarah J. Jackson, Moya Bailey and Brooke Foucault Welles. (2020). #HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice. MIT Press.
N. Persily & J. Tucker (Eds.). (2020). Social Media and Democracy: The State of the Field, Prospects for Reform. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lazer, et al. (2018). “The Science of Fake News.” Science, 359 (6380): 1094–96.
Joan Donovan, Emily Dreyfuss, and Brian Friedberg. (2022). Meme Wars: The Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America. Bloomsbury Publishing
Rathje, S., Van Bavel, J. J., & van der Linden, S. (2021). “Out-group animosity drives engagement on social media.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(26).
Documentary: Under the Sun (See https://www.npr.org/2016/07/08/484945860/the-making-of-a- propaganda-film-in-under-the-sun)
Assessment
Essay (50%)
Essay (50%)
Key facts
Department: School of Public Policy
Course Study Period: Autumn Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
Total students 2024/25: Unavailable
Average class size 2024/25: Unavailable
Controlled access 2024/25: NoCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication
- Commercial awareness