Entering the Spiral of Silence

With about 62 percent of people having an online presence, we cannot ignore the growing importance of the internet. Just over twenty years ago, only around one percent of people were using the internet. In only two decades, the world has created a new public square, where people have the ability to influence cultures, the economy, politics, and society. With any new innovation, there are positives and negatives that accompany this new era.

This article aims to discuss the Spiral of Silence theory in the context of the modern internet age.

What is the Spiral of Silence Theory?

Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann identified the Spiral of Silence theory, in 1972. She then published literature that allowed the theory to become public knowledge, in 1974. Noelle-Neumann wrote that the theory explained how people silence themselves when they believe that they possess an unfavored opinion. The theory relies on the concept that the silencing effect creates the fear of isolation. 

Spiral of Silence Theory in Modern Society

The topic of social media censorship has been a headline in the news, especially over the last year. Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the media has the right to delete content and ban users for violating the platform's guidelines. The current problem is surrounding the increasing power to control public opinion by private media corporations. The content-based and unjust censorship attempts, by the media, are currently shaping public opinion inorganically. 

The Spiral of Silence theory can be used to help measure and describe the impact of social media censorship on shaping public opinion. Media corporations have publically proven that they have more power than all private citizens, the United States government, and state actors. The censorship attempts by big media outlets and social media platforms continue to influence societal attitudes and beliefs. 

Research has shown that when social media users perceive that they possess an unpopular opinion, they will refrain from voicing their thoughts with the fear of being isolated from their communities, both online and offline. The Spiral of Silence theory suggests that, if the media are censoring mostly right-wing voices, the conservative viewpoint will rarely be perceived as the popular opinion, even if true. A 2018 study proved that, therefore, the majority of right-wing users are going to silence their own speech in fear of being the minority voice and getting censored.

A study by the Pew Research Center, in 2014, proved that social media has the potential to increase the prominence of the favored opinion. The study also determined that the silencing effect was elevated on social media, compared to offline discussions. On social media, users can have a false awareness of the popular opinion due to content-based voices being censored. Platforms' censorship acts are able to legally silence political and symbolic speech which leaves the remaining voices to create a false perception of the popular public viewpoint. 

The Spiral of Silence theory explains how social media censorship increases the silencing effect by manipulating the flow of information, restricting access to information, and falsifying users' perspectives of public sentiment.

Example of the Modern Day Silencing Effect

Members of Congress would never suppress my speech... right?

On February 22, 2021, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Congressman Jerry McNerney sent twelve networks' CEOs a letter. 

List of the cable and satellite providers addressed:

• Hulu, LLC (Hulu + Live TV)

• Altice USA (Optimum, Suddenlink)

• Alphabet, Inc. (YouTube TV, Google Play Store)

• Cox Communications, Inc. 

• Dish Network (SlingTV)

• Charter Communications, Inc. (Spectrum)

• Comcast Corporation (Xfinity)

• Apple, Inc. (Apple TV, App Store)

• Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon Fire TV)

• Roku, Inc.

• Verizon Communications (Fios TV)

• AT&T, Inc. (U-verse, DirecTV, AT&T TV)

Why are the letters important?

In the letters, Eshoo and McNerney addressed each service provider and asserted that "right-wing media ecosystems," are easily persuaded by fake news. They requested, "additional information about what actions (provider) is taking to address these issues... (provider) plays a major role in the spread of dangerous misinformation that enabled the insurrection of January 6th and hinders our public health response to the current pandemic."

Members of Congress are coercing cable and satellite providers to remove ring-wing news outlets (Newsmax, One America News Network (OANN), and Fox News) from being able to be accessed through their services. If Members of Congress can get the largest network providers to silence four of the most popular news outlets on cable TV, they can easily use that same power to silence all other views and outlets. If the public does not have fair access to cable TV, from all political perspectives, this would be an incredible threat to society. This IS an incredible threat to society...

If these network providers concede, right-wing media and citizens will not have the means to exercise the freedom to petition the government, freedom of the press, nor freedom of speech.

Elected officials and private media corporations are using their political and economic power to elevate the impact of the silencing effect. Through their use of intimidation tactics and overbroad content-based censorship, the general public has now lost control of voicing or accessing differing views. Users can either choose to self-censor or be censored as a result of voicing an unfavored viewpoint.

If Noelle-Neumann were still alive today, she would most likely emphasize the abuse of power being used to control public opinion on social media. She would then remind us that the Spiral of Silence theory has been explaining the impact of what many are just now realizing, since 1974. Even though we have had access to her research, we ignored her knowledge of the type of power that could be held by media technologies and the ability to manipulate how we think and what we think about.