Journal of Communication ISSN 0021-9916 ORIGINAL ARTICLE A Field Experiment on the Internet’s Effect in an African Election: Savvier Citizens, Disaffected Voters, or Both? Catie Snow Bailard School of Media and Public Affairs, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA This study contributes to the research on the Internet’s effect on political behavior and organization by examining how the Internet influences the types of evaluations that may motivate individuals to organize politically. This study employs a randomized field experiment to determine whether the Internet influenced individuals’ perception of the fairness of the 2010 Tanzanian presidential election. It provides a direct causal test of the Internet’s effect on political evaluations, and the findings reveal that the Internet negatively influenced individuals’ perception of the fairness of the election and recount. However, the findings also reveal that the impact of the Internet on political life may not always enrich democratic values. In this case, more critical Internet users also became less likely to vote. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01632.x Recent events emerging from locations as diverse as London, Wall Street, the Middle East, and Northern Africa convincingly demonstrate the Internet’s capacity to serve as a tool for organization once citizens are moved to action. However, researchers have given less attention the Internet’s role in the stages leading up to such movements — in terms of fomenting or, at least, focusing the discontent that eventually fuels such protests. From a scientific perspective, this question may be impossible to answer definitively. There are no counterfactuals. That is, we cannot compare the level of discontent and protest accompanying the Internet to the level of discontent and protest that would have occurred in a world without the Internet. So, what does the existing body of research tell us about the political effects of Internet use more generally? One set of literature substantiates the Internet’s capacity to encourage political behaviors by individuals (Jennings & Zeitner, 2003; Johnson & Kaye, 2003; Tolbert & McNeal, 2003; Xenos & Moy, 2007), as well as facilitate and streamline organization by institutions and political groups (Bimber, 2003; Shirky, 2008). Anecdotes and case studies also abound, illustrating instances in which the Corresponding author: Catie S. Bailard; catie.bailard@gmail.com 330 Journal of Communication 62 (2012) 330–344  2012 International Communication Association