Social media offers opportunities for participation, political content, and citizen inclusion. It provides a space where politicians can interact closer to civic dialogue, and, due to interaction, citizens are able to form their own political interests and opinions. Form groups of interests and problematize society's problems. But social media has to be regarded with caution. False information leads to a mistaken formation of opinion. Government parties and actors can limit content so that only the parts of the story that the government is interested in are shown to the public. Not all voices are allowed to speak equally. This is questioning the use of social media as a useful tool for a democracy like Tanzania's, where not all citizens can take part in the civic dialogue due to income and access.
In recent decades, the use of social media as a medium for communication and interaction has grown worldwide, including in Tanzania. Different stakeholders benefit from the new platforms. Nonetheless, everyone benefits from improved communication and organization. As new platforms enable access regardless of location, socioeconomic position, language, religion, or other factors, new opportunities to reach out to the masses, especially in Tanzania's case, the Tanzanian populace, emerge. This could pose risks in terms of cybercrime and information traceability in order to reach out to the entire community.
Social media serves as a globalization driver, bringing cultures and people closer together and facilitating simple communication between citizens all over the world. Tanzania's population and democracy are experiencing new impacts, as well as new access to new political ideologies. As a result, the following examines the impact of social media on politics and political debate.
