How National Opportunities Shape Online Discontent: Comparing Right-wing Oopulist Facebook pages in Western Europe

• In Event: 029 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements. Comparative and Cross National Social Movement Research

Abstract

Right-wing populist parties and movements increasingly use social media to interact with other right-wing groups and reach their followers. Social media also enable ‘ordinary’ people to actively participate in online discussions and shape political discourse. This study compares British, French, German and Dutch right-wing populist Facebook pages. Network analyses of pages and content analyses of comments of users indicate that the form and content of political mobilization against globalization is shaped by political and discursive opportunities and legal constraints within the countries. Facing closed opportunities, in Germany and Britain social movements are the most prominent actors representing the populist right online, rather than political parties. We furthermore find that the discourse on German and British pages is strongly focused on immigration and the Islam, whereas the French and Dutch discourse is more varied. The online debate is most radicalized in Britain. It suggests that the combination of closed political and discursive opportunities with few legal constraints yields the most online ‘hate speech’ among right-wing populists.

Authors

• Ofra Klein, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

• Jasper Muis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam