Political Meme Use Can Lead to Political Intolerance: Evidence from a Panel Study

Humor as a communication instrument can be used to define social hierarchy and intergroup relationships. Using a 2-wave panel survey collected from Hong Kong, we show that social media political meme use leads to political intolerance. Social media political meme use, associated with consuming social media political memes from weak ties, also fosters political intolerance. As such, our mediation analysis shows that receiving political memes from weak ties is associated with political meme use, which, in turn, is associated with political intolerance. Finally, our moderated mediation analysis shows that the mediating relationship above is more substantial for individuals with greater political interest. While political memes can draw political engagement, we observe that they can also lead to political intolerance.