Central European Journal of Communication

ABSTRACT: Conflict-oriented behavior in the online environment is attracting increasing attention, mainly due to its widespread presence and the potential implications for shaping public opinion and attitudes. This study examines the factors that drive such behavior on social network sites and their potential implications for the online public sphere. The hierarchical binary logistic regression draws on data from a representative survey of Czech adult users of social network sites (N = 2,187; 55.3% female; mean age = 44.57, SD = 16.45), collected at the end of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (November–December 2020). The results indicate that conflict-oriented commenters, more likely to be less educated, younger men with low political interest, are highly active in online discussions driven by disagreement. Additionally, they are more likely than non-conflict-oriented commenters to unfriend others over differing opinions and express strong negativity toward opposing views. The study discusses implications for societal polarization and deliberative democracy.

Full text: https://journals.ptks.pl/cejc/article/view/777/pdf