Event: Social networks and populism in the EU
Time: May 30, 2017 from 18.00 – 20.00
Guest: Paul-Jasper Dittrich, Research Fellow at Jacques Delors Institut – Berlin
Moderator: Joanna Bronowicka, Director at the CIHR, European University Viadrina
In the last years, populist movements and parties across the EU have managed to use social networks increasingly as a platform for political communication and mobilization. The transformation of the media landscape and political communication by social networks has allowed them to communicate directly with a steadily growing number of followers and distribute their political content to a mass audience.
In his recent paper, Paul-Jasper Dittrich examines the growth in fan numbers and interaction rates among populist parties and movements on Facebook between 2015 and March 2017 in France, Germany, Italy and Spain Despite the high probability that populist parties are using social bots and other manipulation techniques to artificially boost their popularity further, the question remains: Why are populists seemingly so successful in communicating their messages via social networks?
Registration: Fill out the form here.
Place: Stiftung Neue Verantwortung e.V.
Address: Beisheim Center, Berliner Freiheit 2, D-10785 Berlin
Questions: Send an email to ue.rhicnull@eciffo
About the series: The CIHR Debates: Elections in the Digital Age
Has technology changed the way we vote? Why do populists succeed on social networks? What is the impact of hacking and leaks on elections? Should fake news be regulated? Can microtargetting political ads change how people vote? As the German federal elections are approaching, we want to see what lessons can be learned from recent elections in US and Europe.
If you are interested in the topic, you can join the discussion with other Berlin-based experts organized by the Centre for Internet and Human Rights. The CIHR is a vibrant hub for academic research about technology and society. Our goal is to inform current public and academic debates by producing high-quality research grounded in theory and empirical data.
On May 30, 2017 we will launch the debate with the first seminar on Social Networks and Populism with an expert from Jacques Delors Institut. On July 12, we host a lecture by dr Michał Kosinski, a psychologist and data scientist from Stanford University who developed a method to analyze people based on their Facebook activity.
