Determinants of political participation in a mediatized milieu

Abstract In the Philippines, social media has become a significant tool for political discourses and socio-civic movements, especially with the “forced” shift to online interactions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This research contextualizes the political and electoral landscape in the Philippines as it looks into the mediated political participation among Filipinos by analyzing the determinants that shape practices of online political engagement. Guided by Casemajor et al.’s (2015) concept of participation as a form of mediated political action, twenty-four in-depth interviews with Filipino voters during the 2022 Philippine national elections were conducted to explore the nature of political participation in a mediatized milieu. Findings reveal varied ways by which an individual’s networks and the available information from media sources influence their political participation online. Beyond the determinants identified by literature, social realities as observed by the voting population also influence their mediated political participation. This study exposes that which seems invisible: that massive digitalization, both the technologies and communicative practices, is changing human society. While the digital sphere has allowed a more engaged citizenry, it has also become an arena for mis-, dis-, and mal- information as actors exploit the space for conversation.