In recent years, political communication landscapes in many Western democracies have been characterized by the growing prominence and political impact of alternative, largely right-wing media ecosystems centered around online influencers, podcasters, streamers, and other internet celebrities. Amplified by the algorithmic power of video platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, these content creators have been playing an ever more crucial role in supplying political information for younger generations, as well as in the dissemination of conservative and alt-right political content, often then further instrumentalized by illiberal and authoritarian political actors.
The ambition of this presentation is to carry out a systematic analysis of the connections between this new, influencer-driven, and platform-enabled alternative information environment and the erosion of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe—a region which has been grappling with the rise of far-right populism and illiberalism for over a decade. Empirically, the presentation draws primarily on the Czech Republic in the context of the upcoming 2025 parliamentary elections, but it is also informed by relevant evidence from other countries in the region. In addition, the talk aims to explore and critically assess the role of global digital platforms in enabling rightwing online influencer culture, drawing on the concept of platform capitalism (Srnicek, 2017), which highlights the disruptive effects of low-regulated, profit-oriented technological companies on democracy.
Václav Štětka is a professor of media and political communication at Loughborough University (UK), where he has been working since 2016. Before that, he worked at Masaryk University in Brno, Charles University in Prague, and the University of Oxford. His research interests encompass the role of social media in political communication and the relationship between media, polarization, and illiberalism, as well as media freedom and editorial autonomy in post-transition countries, particularly in Eastern Europe. Štětka recently published a monograph titled The Illiberal Public Sphere: Media in Polarized Societies (Palgrave, 2024, co-authored with Sabina Mihelj).
IWM Rector Misha Glenny will moderate the discussion.
