Political Opinion Formation among Youth through AI-Driven Digital Media Platforms: A Case Study of the University of Chitral

Abstract

The rapid growth of AI-driven digital media has significantly transformed the ways how political communication works and how opinions are formed. Under transformation with the introduction of AI technologies, youth in Pakistan largely rely on digital media sites like Facebook, X (formerly twitter), Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and others for political information and participation purposes. While these media have created new opportunities for political information and participation, critics argue that they promote phenomena of echo chambers and selective exposure thereby rendering the societies polarized. This study is an attempt at exploring the tension between digital political mobilization and ideological polarization looking at the phenomenon from the perspectives of students of University of Chitral, a remote mountainous area in the northern regions of Pakistan. Using a qualitative exploratory design, data were collected from students of the University of Chitral through 24 semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis model. The major finding of the study reveals that AI-driven digital media usage among students of the University of Chitral acts as both sites of digital political mobilization as well as reinforcement leading to ideological polarization. The study concludes that the use of AI-driven digital media promotes awareness and increased political connectivity while at the same time reinforcing and widening political polarization among students of the University of Chitral.