The democratic consequences of online media consumption in post-revolutionary Egypt

Abstract

Considerable academic focus has been directed towards exploring the roles played by online media in initiating and shaping Egypt’s uprisings experienced since 2011. However, little is known about whether electronic media outlets remained a political agent in post-revolutionary Egypt or not. The current work seeks to redress this gap, relying on unique data collected in April 2016 from a representative sample of 1200 Egyptian adults. Findings show that electronic media consumption leads to increased demands for democratic regimes and negative positions towards Islamic governments. Furthermore, online media use enhances citizens’ protesting behaviour rather than voting action. In the online domain, electronic media exposure instigates more online political activism among online media users. Arguably, the current work concludes that online media have still been a potent democratizing actor in today’s Egypt as it had been during the 2011 and 2013 insurgencies, yet taking different forms and diverse degrees.