As Swedish political parties struggle to form a coalition government, a growing body of research shows that social networks likely helped produce the election results that led to the impasse. And the confusion wasn't the result of foreign interference, but rather home-grown abuse of digital media.

Sweden, like the Netherlands and Germany last year, is going through the longest period without a government in the history of its democracy. The latest election took place on Sept 9, but no party got enough votes to wield power and all attempts to form a governing coalition have failed so far.