The Causal Relationship between Internet Echo Chambers and Political Participation: An Analysis of Panel Data from the 2024 Taiwan Presidential Election
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The political mobilization effects of online communication have become a prominent political phenomenon in recent years. Given the convenience of internet usage, whether participants in political activities are more inclined to disseminate related political information online is a question worthy of exploration. This study focuses on the interaction between online echo chambers and political participation, investigating whether this interaction represents a unidirectional causal relationship or potentially a bidirectional reciprocal causality. Four research hypotheses are proposed: (1) online echo chambers contribute to increased participation in campaign activities; (2) online echo chambers promote higher voter turnout; (3) campaign participation reinforces participants' tendencies within online echo chambers; (4) voter turnout does not reinforce participants' tendencies within online echo chambers. By analyzing panel data collected from two waves of telephone interviews conducted during the 2024 Taiwan presidential election, all four research hypotheses proposed in this study are supported.