Sociálne médiá, vláda a (ne)podpora demokracie: Ako online priestor formuje postoje na Slovensku
Social Media, Government, and the (lack of) Support for Democracy: How the Online Sphere Shapes Attitudes in Slovakia

Summary/Abstract: This study aims to examine how the intensity of social media use and trust in social media influence support for democracy in the context of Slovakia —a country recently characterized by visible signs of democratic backsliding. At the theoretical level, the study differentiates between civic trust and the perceived trustworthiness of government, drawing on performance -based theories of institutional trust. We hypothesize that in settings marked by deteriorating democratic norms, the perceived trustworthiness of government may mediate the indirect effect of media -related behavior on democratic attitudes. The analysis is based on data from a nationally representative survey of the Slovak population (N = 1014, autumn 2024) and uses structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show that a higher intensity of social media use is associated with lower perceived trustworthiness of government, while trust in social media has a positive influence on government trustworthiness. Notably, perceived government trustworthiness is negatively associated with support for democracy, confirming the hypothesis of a paradoxical effect of government trust during periods of democratic decline. These findings emphasize the importance of considering mediated effects through perceived trustworthiness and highlight the need to interpret the influence of social media within the institutional and political context —particularly in countries exhibiting signs of democratic backsliding.

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