Populism on Facebook

Abstract

Populism is argued to represent a serious challenge to established, mainstream parties as well as the democratic project underpinning the European Union. Increased support for populist ideas led to concerns of a fragmented parliament. Finding just under a quarter of all Facebook posts by parties contained some populist rhetoric, we argue while populist parties may not dominate the new parliament but populist ideas have gained purchase across the spectrum. The combination of populist rhetoric with mobilisation appeals and calls for interaction suggests populist posts better exploit the affordances of the platform suggesting European politics may be taking a somewhat populist turn particularly in terms of increased scepticism towards elites.