The silent majority online: lurking, online political engagement on social media, and the role of value-incongruent political exposure

While social media are often heralded as important deliberative spaces, it is well-documented that the majority of citizens are lurkers who consume content with little or no active posting. However, research on online political participation has predominantly focused on active users, leaving the political engagement of the silent majority understudied. This comparative study addresses this gap by drawing on two cross-sectional surveys conducted in Germany (N = 2,213) and Spain (N = 2,337). We investigate how lurking behavior relates to two dimensions of political engagement on social media: expressive (political expression, political discussion, cross-cutting discussion) and defensive (user filtration). We also explore the role of exposure to value-incongruent political content, i.e., political posts that challenge users’ principles and value system, and how these factors interact. The results show that lurking is negatively associated with expressive forms of political engagement, but not with defensive engagement, for which the relationship is non-significant. Exposure to value-incongruent political content is positively associated with all forms of expressive and defensive political engagement on social media in both countries. In Germany, such exposure also intensifies the negative relationship between lurking and political discussion. Conversely, in Spain, exposure to value-incongruent political content positively moderates the relationship between lurking and user filtration. Overall, the results indicate that exposure to value-incongruent political content can prompt lurkers to adopt strategies aimed at maintaining social harmony, either through self-silencing in political discussions or through active boundary-setting via user filtration, and that these strategies are shaped by cultural and political contexts.