Social Media and Political Advocacy

Where do you get your news, hear about ongoing protests, and see grassroots advocacy in action? Is it on legacy media or your favourite social media platform? Since its inception in the early 2000s, social media has become the world d’s most popular media form (Cosentino, 2020, p. 15). The popularity of social media websites took off in the 2000s, with an estimated 42% of the global population using social media by 2018, compared to the estimated 8% of the global population that had access to the internet in 2001 (Flew & Iosifidis, 2019, p. 10; Gerbaudo, 2014, p. 73). The COVID-19 pandemic and government’s public health measures around the world aimed to curb the spread of the virus, leading to individuals spending 50 to 70% more time on their digital devices in 2020, with 50% of that time being spent on social media (Pandya & Lodha, 2021). This article will delve into the effects of these trends and explore how social media’s use impacts political advocacy by analyzing how grassroots advocacy groups and populists have used such platforms to spread awareness of their causes. Moreover, this paper will investigate the convergence of these groups during the pandemic, and their attempts to spread awareness and gain support for the Canadian Freedom Convoy in February 2022.

Social media is different from other forms of traditional channels of communication. In the days before Facebook and Twitter, legacy media and public discourse made up the entirety of the space in social life where public opinion could be formed, but now, different and more radical opinions are easily found online (Salem, 2014, p. 175; Waisbord, 2018, p. 24). Social media users are instantly connected to one another, allowing ideas to be communicated more quickly than ever before (Gerbaudo, 2018, p. 751; Skey, 2020). Social media’s algorithms influence the visibility and popularity of social media posts, so users are shown content that matches their interests and online crowds with the same beliefs or interests are formed (Gerbaudo, 2018, pp. 746, 750). The interactive features of social media also force content to compete for attention, leading to the ‘gamification’ of the “online political experience,” where content creators feed users information in attempts to capture their attention (Cosentino, 2020, pp. 4-5, 21; Engesser et al., 2017, p. 1113; Gerbaudo, 2014, p. 68). Social media has essentially created “a new form of mass politics” in the last decade, where online crowds can perpetuate alternative discourses, spreading ideas instantly through likes, shares, and comments (Gerbaudo, 2014, p. 68).

So, how does social media and its ability to promote alternative discourses relate to grassroots advocacy? This ability was highlighted in the Egyptian Revolution in 2011, where the authoritarian state’s perspective dominated legacy news outlets and public conversation (Salem, 2014, pp.180-181). Social media allowed Egyptian protestors to contest state narratives, spreading critical views of the state through this digitally networked space that competed with ideas of the state (Salem, 2014, pp. 180-181). During the protests, social media created space for dissenting opinions that were otherwise dismissed. These grassroots advocates used social media to mobilize their fellow Egyptians, spread their messages, form online groups, and instantly share content like photos, videos, and venues for protests (Salem, 2014, pp. 171, 179). As seen in this example, social media is a powerful tool that allows grassroots advocates to garner support and spread discourse that would not be accepted by legacy media.

If grassroots advocates can utilize social media to spread their messages and garner support, can populists do this too? Populismrefers to a communication style where one claims “to speak and act in the name of the people” (Brubaker, 2017, p. 362). Social media allows populists to “feed their followers” their own alternative views and avoid constraints imposed by legacy media (Flew & Iosifidis, 2019, p. 16). An example of populists using social media to advocate their own views is Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign (Groshek & Koc-Michalska, 2017, p. 1390; Waisbord, 2018, p. 23). By utilizing social media, Trump’s campaign was able to share alternative discourses online, create groups of supporters, and change the existing narrative that cast him in a negative light, while remaining “immune to factual corrections” (Waisbord, 2018, pp. 24, 26-27). Populism thrives amongst alternative discourses found on social media that allow populists to connect directly with ‘the people’ (Engesser et al., 2017, p. 1113). Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign is just one example of how a populist has used social media to spread their views, and gain a following.

In February 2022, grassroots advocacy and populist advocacy converged in the form of the Freedom Convoy in Canada. The Freedom Convoy began as a protest against vaccine mandates and other public health restrictions imposed to combat COVID-19 (Turnbull, 2022). A small minority of Canadians were able to gather and spread awareness of their alternative views on social media (Carvin, 2022; Graham-Harrison & Lindeman, 2022). They were also able to share links to fundraising websites such as GoFundMe and GiveSendGo, which allowed the convoy supporters to raise funds that supported the movement (Carvin, 2022). On GoFundMe alone, more than ten million dollars were raised, with 86 percent of donations coming from Canadians (Turnbull, 2022). Using social media as a place to congregate, share alternative ideas, and plan protests, members of the Freedom Convoy were able to block streets in Ottawa for three weeks and the Ambassador Bridge at the Windsor- Detroit border for over a week (Graham- Harrison & Lindeman, 2022; Turnbull, 2022). This protest is the most recent example of social media’s power to promote advocacy; this time, however, grassroots and populist advocacy converged to create a movement that sparked copycat protests across the globe (Graham-Harrison & Lindeman, 2022).

In sum, social media allows both grassroots and populist advocates to promote their views. Although this can be beneficial in cases where grassroots advocates face off against authoritarian governments, as we saw in Egypt, it can also lead to the election of populist actors like Donald Trump and movements like the Freedom Convoy that cause major political and economic disruptions. Social media is a powerful tool, we just have to be careful about what it is used for.

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Carvin, S. (2022, March 5). Stephanie Carvin: How the Freedom Convoy was fuelled by online activism. The National Post. https://nationalpost.com/opinion/stephanie-carvin-how-thefreedom-convoy-was-fuelled-by-online-activism

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Salem, S. (2014). Creating Spaces for Dissent The Role of Social Media in the 2011Egyptian Revolution. In D. Trottier and C. Fuchs (Eds.), Social Media, Politics and the State (pp. 171-188). Routledge.

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Turnbull, S. (2022, March 3). GoFundMe head testifies over Freedom Convoyfundraising, says most donors were Canadian. CTV News. https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/gofundme-head-testifies-overfreedom-convoy-fundraising-says-most-donors-were-canadian-1.5804094

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