A social media platform is a digital service that enables users to create, share, access, and interact with content and other users within an online communication environment [1][2]. These platforms provide technological features such as user profiles, content feeds, messaging, commenting, sharing, and network connections that facilitate different forms of interpersonal and mass communication. Examples include social networking sites, video-sharing services, microblogging platforms, and discussion-based communities, which vary in their functions, audience structures, and modes of interaction [3]. Platform design, algorithms, content moderation policies, and participation rules influence how information is distributed, which voices gain visibility, and how users engage with public issues [4]. In political communication, social media platforms serve as spaces where political actors, news organizations, civic groups, and members of the public disseminate information, express opinions, mobilize support, and participate in political discussion [4]. Their communication features and governance arrangements shape the opportunities and constraints for information exchange, public engagement, and collective action in digital society.
Social Media and Politics • Communication • Social Sciences • Social Sciences