The Dangers of Controlling public Narratives, Part 1: Effects on Democracy

In today’s information-saturated world, major institutions of authority – including governments, traditional media, tech platforms (especially social media), and even educational systems – are increasingly engaged in shaping public narratives. In democratic societies, this often takes the form of governments pushing official messages, news outlets framing stories in particular ways, social media algorithms amplifying certain content, and educational curricula emphasizing select viewpoints. This coordinated or parallel effort to “control the narrative” can have profound societal consequences. Below we explore the effects on democracy, public trust, mental health, and societal polarization, drawing on current global observations and research.

Effects on Democracy

Transparency and Accountability

When those in power seek to manage the narrative, transparency tends to suffer. Officials and media gatekeepers may omit or downplay inconvenient facts, making it harder for the public to know what is really happening. As USAID Administrator Samantha Power warns,“Powerful people who seek to control the narrative spread inaccurate information to drown out the truth. They’re silencing journalists”(editorials.voa.gov). Such practices undermine the watchdog role of the press and other oversight bodies, allowing corruption or misdeeds to go unchecked. In extreme cases, this mirrors tactics of autocrats who choke the free press to retain power (editorials.voa.gov). A controlled narrative means fewer independent voices holding leaders accountable, which erodes one of the pillars of healthy democracy.

Informed Voter Behavior: Democracy relies on voters having factual, diverse information. Narrative control can deprive citizens of that, manipulating voter perceptions and choices. For example, widespread misinformation and propaganda have been linked to real-world democratic disruptions – false narratives can influence election outcomes (deltapsychology.com). The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed how personal data and targeted messaging were used to sway voters, highlighting that social media can be exploited to “influence electoral outcomes” (freedomhouse.org). Foreign and domestic actors alike have used online disinformation to undermine election integrity notably, Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election (freedomhouse.org). When all major platforms of information – news media, online networks, even school lessons – are aligned to reinforce certain talking points, voters may be steered rather than freely deciding. This threatens the fairness of elections and reduces government accountability to the people. It also breeds cynicism: if citizens sense they are being fed a managed story, they may disengage from politics or question the legitimacy of outcomes.

Democratic Discourse: Beyond elections, the quality of public discourse deteriorates under tight narrative control. Healthy democracies thrive on open debate and pluralism, whereas a monolithic narrative stifles dissenting opinions. In some democratic countries, even educational institutions have become battlegrounds for narrative control. For instance, politically motivated curriculum laws and book bans have been introduced in parts of the U.S., aiming to suppress “divisive concepts” in history and civics classes (americanprogress.org). Likewise, in India the ruling government has pursued rewriting school textbooks to fit agenda-driven historical narratives (tandfonline.com). These efforts not only compromise truthful education – and perpetuate history being written by the victor” – but also chill open discussion, producing a citizenry taught to see through a singular lens. In the long run, such practices can hollow out democratic culture – people learn to self-censor or to accept the “official” story rather than engage critically.

Part 2 will continue the discussion with how controlling the narrative causes erosion of public trust in our institutions.

References

Center for American Progress. September 19, 2022. Book Banning, Curriculum Restrictions, and the Politicization of U.S. Schools. americanprogress.org.

Forbes, John. September 4, 2023. The Psychological Impact of Misinformation and Information Overload. Delta Psychology. deltapsychology.com.

Power, Samantha. April 13, 2023. Media Freedom Is the Cornerstone of Democracy. Voice of America. editorials.voa.gov.

Lakshminarayanan, R., Thomas, D., & Paul, S. (2025). Political narratives and the authorship of history textbooks-a case study from India. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2025.2486093

Shahbaz, Adrian. 2018. Freedom on the Net 2018: The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism. Freedom House. freedomhouse.orgfreedomhouse.org.