Parliamentary Rhetoric Meets the “Twittersphere”: Rethinking the Politicisation of European Public Debates with the Rise of Social Media

This paper reflects on how the forms and rules of debating are transforming in the context of European public debate with the rise of social media. Drawing from an approach to politics as an activity and parliamentary debates as the paradigm for other forms of debate, it discusses challenges posed by the dynamics between parliamentary rhetoric and “Twittersphere” in the European context. As social media is shaping political discourse outside parliaments, the ideas of democracy and plurality of opinion have been globally challenged by populist and anti-democratic movements. In the context of 2019 European elections, many nationalist political parties have sown the seeds of distrust towards parliaments and, at the same time, acted against freedom of opinion claiming that their version of reality is the most pertinent, or simply ‘true’. Although attacks against representative democracy are nothing new in Europe, they are, nevertheless, launched in new arenas for political interaction, such as Twitter, which can very easily create confusion about the origins of the opinions (if they are posted anonymously or behind an alias) and their political motivations, as well as reach wider audiences more speedily than ever before. Unlike traditional representative assemblies, these arenas do not operate with constitutionally established procedures and rules to safeguard fair political debate and compromise, to leave room for deliberation of different perspectives and arguments. However, they do offer ways to diversify issues on the European agenda, as was shown in the case of 2019 European elections.