How Centrist Politics Lost the Digital Battle for Hearts and Minds
There exists a peculiar habit of characterising social media as a domain utilised primarily by others – the younger generation scrolling through TikTok, that relative prone to conspiracy theories on Facebook, or the right-wing provocateurs active on X. In reality, digital connectivity is now nearly universal. Global social media users exceeded 5 billion in 2024, a staggering figure when considered against a total world population of approximately 8 billion.
The Digital Transformation of Public Discourse
The internet has fundamentally revolutionised our methods of communication and information exchange. Initially, the digital wave disrupted print media, as freely accessible online content outpaced traditional subscription newspapers. Publishers briefly discovered new audiences on platforms like Facebook, only to witness referral traffic collapse when the platform altered its algorithms to deprioritise posts containing external links.
Now, digital platforms are conclusively ending the broadcast era. To illustrate, just over 15 million viewers watched England's defeat by Spain in the Euro 2024 final. In contrast, podcaster Joe Rogan commands more than 14 million followers on Spotify alone, with an additional 20 million subscribers on YouTube. While Rogan's reach is international, numerous lesser-known influencers produce weekly or daily YouTube content that attracts audiences rivaling, and sometimes surpassing, the nightly viewership of established news programmes like BBC News at Six. This is unequivocally the era of posting.
The New Political Arena: Emotion Over Information
This shift transcends merely where people source their information – or misinformation. The online world has become the primary space for community building, ideological debate, and policy shaping. Digital platforms inherently alter the form and style of these discussions. Online, topics as mundane as the safety of tap water can become as politically charged as debates on net migration. Posting provocative content can influence policy faster than participating in a physical protest. The allure of politics is increasingly less about addressing material needs and more about seeking authenticity amidst a landscape saturated with fakes, digital filters, and AI-generated content.
The relentless churn of social media functions like a powerful undertow, dragging political discourse toward ideas and tropes that generate sufficient engagement to surface in the competitive attention economy. Traditional political communication, with its reliance on carefully focus-group-tested messaging, is often rendered obsolete, becoming mere fodder for mockery, trolling, and conspiracy theories. The institutional gatekeepers of old have fallen, supplanted by influencers whose success hinges on navigating the capricious currents of audience attention.
Case Studies in Digital Ascent and Decline
On X, Elon Musk's reinstatement of controversial figures has reshaped the platform's influence landscape. Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist and antisemitic livestreamer, now commands half the follower count of Labour leader Keir Starmer. Meanwhile, the recently reinstated Andrew Tate boasts a following that exceeds the UK Prime Minister's by a staggering 9 million. The Labour Party might emphasise its commitment to delivering sensible policies over online posturing, yet this approach has inadvertently ensnared it in conspiratorial backlash, as seen with reactions to its digital ID policy.
Conversely, Reform UK is adeptly riding the digital wave, producing content finely tuned to the ever-evolving trends on platforms like TikTok. Its leader, Nigel Farage, has amassed more followers on the platform than all other sitting MPs combined. Emulating successful influencers, he promotes merchandise and shares videos of himself either relaxing or aggressively confronting journalists. His audience actively repurposes this content into supercut videos set to "phonk" music – a subgenre of Memphis hip-hop adopted by online reactionaries.
The Evolution of Propaganda and the Misplaced Focus
While Russia has been justly criticised for disseminating disinformation, pro-Kremlin propaganda tactics are evolving. The strategy is shifting from simply posting "fake news" to seeding platforms with shareable TikTok stickers and reusable audio templates. This includes techno remixes of Soviet-era folk songs that have become the unofficial soundtrack for pro-Russian war content on TikTok.
The predominant liberal focus on combating disinformation fundamentally misinterprets the mechanics of digital platforms. Misleading content is ubiquitous, but the true battleground is for emotion and attention. These elements ultimately determine whether any information – accurate or not – finds and retains an audience. This explains why state-of-the-art propagandists now prioritise massaging collective "vibes" over disseminating detailed policy messages.
As traditional centrist politicians strive to project an image of sensibility and stability, their opponents – occasionally on the left, but predominantly on the reactionary right – operate with few constraints. They are propelled by an ideological wave steered solely by the volatile attention of an increasingly disaffected and perpetually online electorate.
The fundamental nature of political engagement has irrevocably changed. Politicians who fail to comprehend and adapt to this new digital reality risk being left behind, their messages drowned out in the noisy, emotion-driven arena of online discourse.
