Has influencing public policy has been made easier by social media?

                                                Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times

It is no secret or surprise that social media and the fast spread of the internet has allowed the world to become more connected than ever before. In a study done two years ago by the Pew Research Center, they found that the internet and the advent of more communication technologies has allowed for greater impact on politics. This got me thinking about if the public is influencing policy more or if we are just more aware of decisions being made in the government.

As I was contemplating these questions, Biden announced his plan to ramp up vaccine production as well as vaccine distribution around the globe. As pointed out in the article, this move was made amid recent outcries against the administration for the lack of a role the United States has played in increasing vaccine rates globally. Not only completed vaccine distribution but earlier this year when the United States and much of the West was accused of withholding vaccine production and patents from poorer, more global southern countries. 

Now, the United States and this administration could have been planning on releasing patent holds and assisting in vaccine distribution anyways, but did the pressure that came with the outcries of social media either a) speed distribution along or b) make the administration go public with the information. Either way, it would be hard to ignore the role social media and the internet plays in helping shape public policy, the web is where constituencies are nowadays. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/us/politics/biden-covid-vaccine-manufacturing.html