Between Scroll and Truth: How media shapes democracy in Sweden and Luxemburg

Studies show that Tiktok is the platform with the most spreading of misinformation. Followed by Facebook and twitter/X.

Social media are hailed as vehicles for providing a voice to the voiceless. They are also viewed as a way to overcome state-controlled media and content especially in the developing world. However, social media platforms are also increasingly being used as a means for empowering disruptive voices, messages, or ideologies. Bond et al found that online political mobilization messages distributed via individual self-expressions and shared through personal social networks like twitter lead to self-guided information seeking and maybe self-serving behavior. Consequently, these messages impact voting turnout behavior. The study indicates the powerful effect of online political mobilization.

The spread of false information on social media can undermine citizens capacity to form and express political views. This means that people can be coerced to vote for a political figure due to misinformation about another one.

A study from svenskaochinternet.se 2021 showed that students from Swedish gymnasiums gets 57% of their information from social media. The study showed that 8 of 10 students take part in digital news. YouTube was the dominating platform for information in 2021. A new study from the newspaper global showed that 51% of 16–18-year-olds trusts TikTok for their information intake in 2025.

WGYnytt took their time to get two students perspective on where they get their information from and how they think that democracy will affect the future of democracy. The first interviewer was a Swedish student in second grade named Freja Klarbo.

- I get my news from various social media platforms, especially Tiktok and Instagram. The news I take part in comes up when I scroll, but I never really double-check if the news is true. The only case I check if it is true is if it is big news. Then I search on Google and check if it is genuine. A source that I find credible is Aftonbladet as it is a major authority that should be reliable. If the news covers the USA, I don't usually look it up because there is so much going on, because it is a country that is so corrupt, so you think that everything is basically possible.

She went on to talk about her thoughts on social media’s affect on the future of democracy.

- Very big impact on how to lead parties and spread propaganda. How much coverage politics will get, it will be greater if it is marketed correctly. Both positive and negative but above all negative thanks to AI. Through AI you can find fake videos of parliament and other leaders. It is very difficult and self-critical when it looks like real authoritarians.

Now that we had the Swedish perspective we went on to find out the Luxembourgish perspective. We interviewed Louis Wampach.

- I get my news from news stations such as RTL and Essentiel. I choose to use them for my information in take because I don’t trust social media. I always research things mainly because I don’t fully believe in social media.

She was very skeptical about the use of social media for news.

- Social media is a powerful tool for pushing certain ideologies to a mass number of impressionable users.

In the discussion of what’s true and what’s not, it’s very important that young students learn about the importance surrounding source criticism. We decided to see if both the Swedish students and the Luxembourgian students learn about source criticism. Hence that we interviewed both a Swedish teacher Charlotta Hemlin and the Luxembourgian teacher Pascal Krier.

- In my subjects Swedish, media and journalism I teach about the importance of source criticism. It’s important to talk about source critics and trust but its also important that the students don’t believe that every task they get is propaganda or disinformation.

Hemlin further described todays situation with students and their use of source criticism.

- I think students are still critical of sources, but almost to the point that they almost don't believe anything.

When asked about how media will affect the future of democracy she said following:

- Unfortunately, I think it affects everything in such a way that everything becomes short, that there is no room for long explanations and reasoning. A lot will be about how politicians look online and what they say in short, that young people will get tired of social media. You can see developments in social media makes young people interested in politics but also that there will be too many funny clips that become frivolous and that people then think why should they care. It will become that you want something other than short clips, the dangerous thing is that you don't believe in something you see and hear.

 The Luxembourgian teacher Pascal Krier got asked the same question in which she expressed the following:

- I taught source criticism a few years ago in a class that was a topic called ethics, and it was mor like their AI didn’t exist, so it was more like internet sources. Already then it was very important that it’s not copied or that its not true. So now I think its even more critical with AI that you have to do really deep research sounding your sources. I think that students were less source critical and I think also with the age that they get older, the more source critical they get and also because they are taught that in school. I also think that they are aware that they have to be source critical at home.

She talked about how social media will affect the future of democracy:

Due to social media, you can make a much more pointed election campaign. So maybe the possibility of misinformation is much higher because people only get the feed that you send to them. Maybe they don’t get their information on reliable sources and that might be a problem for democracy in the future.

Social media has a major impact on democracy, especially since many young people get a large part of their information from there. Platforms like TikTok spread both news and disinformation, which can influence how people form their opinions and in some cases how they vote. At the same time, social media can give more people a voice and increase political engagement.

The interviews we conducted show that some young people do not always check their sources, while others are more skeptical and prefer traditional news. Teachers emphasize that source criticism is more important than ever, especially with the development of AI and targeted information. In conclusion, social media can both strengthen and threaten democracy, depending on how the information is used and reviewed.