Social media and the rise of radical right populism in Portugal: the communicative strategies of André Ventura on X in the 2022 elections

The paper situates populism both as ideology and as a communicative style, emphasizing the role of social media in enabling direct, disintermediated leader–citizen interactions. It aims to identify and characterize populist communication in Portugal by analyzing André Ventura’s discourse on X (formerly Twitter) during the 2022 legislative election campaign. The study’s purpose is to understand how Ventura constructs “the people,” leverages an antagonistic “us versus them” framing, and mobilizes anti-elite and exclusionary narratives in a socio-digital environment characterized by self-mediation and agenda-setting by political actors. This contributes to understanding the prominence of the “populist zeitgeist,” the hybrid media system’s affordances, and the implications for democratic discourse in Portugal.

The paper reviews scholarship that conceptualizes populism as ideology (Mudde and Kaltwasser), discourse (Laclau), and mobilization strategy (Jansen; Weyland), highlighting its malleability and the centrality of an antagonistic moral dichotomy between “the people” and “the elites/out-groups.” It discusses communication-centered approaches (e.g., Canovan; Bos, van der Brug and de Vreese; Krämer) that focus on style, simplification, negativity, and emotional appeals. The literature distinguishes right-wing radicalism (accepting democratic rules but challenging core liberal principles) from right-wing extremism (rejecting democratic order), noting the mainstreaming of the radical right in Europe (Mudde). It emphasizes common radical right themes such as nativism, authoritarianism, and exclusion of minorities (e.g., immigrants, Muslim and Roma communities). The review then turns to the digital sphere: social media enable disintermediated, popularity-driven communication, “favorable opportunity structures” for populist messaging (Ernst et al.), homophily and filter bubbles, algorithmic amplification, and hybrid media logic (Chadwick; Castells; Mazzoleni and Bracciale). It outlines how online circulation, de/recontextualization, and personalized microblogging on platforms like Twitter facilitate direct appeals, anti-system rhetoric, and community-building among like-minded users, contributing to “populism 2.0” (Gerbaudo).

The study employs qualitative content analysis to examine André Ventura’s official X/Twitter posts during the 2022 Portuguese legislative election campaign. Objectives: O1) identify Ventura’s thematic agenda; O2) deconstruct argumentative strategies in constructing “the people,” focusing on “us versus them” polarization and meanings mobilized against out-groups. Research questions: RQ1) What topics are present on Ventura’s agenda during the campaign? RQ2) What elements of populist communication does he mobilize? RQ3) What degrees of populism (e.g., complete, exclusive, anti-elitist, empty) are evident? Corpus: 143 tweets posted between January 3 and 29, 2022. Procedure: Manual extraction of posts from @AndreCVentura, categorization into 13 exhaustive, mutually exclusive themes, followed by quantitative distribution assessment and qualitative interpretation of salient posts. The thematic categories were: democratic regeneration; corruption; political events; attacks on opponents; law and order; taxes; attacks on the media system; political pacts; homeland (national symbolism/patriotism); social politics (wages, pensions, health, transport, agriculture); migration politics; personal themes; economy; and other. The analysis then probed discursive constructions (appeals to the people, anti-elitism, exclusion of out-groups) to assess degrees of populism.

- Ventura’s X/Twitter presence during the campaign centered on a compact agenda dominated by two themes: democratic regeneration (21%) and corruption (18.1%), totaling 39.1% of posts (n=143). - Other thematic shares: political events 14%; attacks on opponents 12%; law and order 7.7%; taxes 4.9%; attacks on the media system 4.9%; political pacts 4.2%; social politics 3.4%; homeland/national symbolism 2.9%; immigration 2%; personal themes 1.4%; health 0.7%; economy 0.7%; other 2%. - Content emphasized a polarized “us vs. them” narrative, anti-elite/anti-establishment rhetoric (targeting government, PS and PSD, and cultural/media elites), and a moral framing of corruption. - Security/law-and-order discourse proposed tougher penalties (e.g., life imprisonment) and increased policing; immigrants—especially Muslims—were associated with illegality/terrorism; the Roma community was constructed as a key internal out-group living off subsidies and outside the rule of law. - Posts exhibited discursive negativity, crisis narratives (economic hardship, taxes, fuel prices), and linked socioeconomic grievances to “socialist corruption.” - Nationalist frames and patriotic symbolism were salient (events at historic monuments; appeals to “good Portuguese”); Ventura projected a messianic leader image (e.g., joint messaging with Vox’s Santiago Abascal about “saving” the Iberian Peninsula). - Hostility toward mainstream media was recurrent (4.9% of posts), accusing journalists/commentators of servility to elites. - The overall style matched radical right populist communication: emotional, simplified, moralized, negative, and exclusionary. Evidence aligned with “complete populism” (appeals to the people, anti-elitism, and exclusion of out-groups).

The findings address the research questions by showing that Ventura’s campaign agenda on X prioritized democratic regeneration and corruption, while systematically deploying anti-elite and exclusionary rhetoric typical of radical right populism. His messaging constructed a moralized divide between the “good” native people and corrupt political/cultural elites, alongside the stigmatization of minority out-groups (Roma, Muslim immigrants) as threats to order and identity. This aligns with communication-centered theories of populism that emphasize polarization, negativity, emotional appeals, and simplification. The observed emphasis on law-and-order and nativism, along with nationalist symbolism and leader-centered, messianic tones, indicates a congruence with European radical right patterns. Moreover, the use of X/Twitter’s affordances reflects socially mediated populism: disintermediated communication, algorithmic amplification, and community-building among like-minded followers. Integrating Jagers and Walgrave’s typology, the data support the characterization of Ventura’s rhetoric as “complete populism,” combining appeals to “the people,” anti-elitism, and exclusion of out-groups. The prominence of Islamophobic and anti-minority frames is consistent with broader accounts of radical right discourses post-9/11. In the Portuguese case, these dynamics illustrate how social media facilitate agenda concentration on crisis-laden themes and enable moralized, polarizing narratives that challenge liberal-pluralist norms.

The study shows that André Ventura’s communication on X during the 2022 legislative elections presents a compact agenda heavily focused on democratic regeneration and corruption, complemented by law-and-order, nationalist, and anti-immigration frames. His messaging style is emotionally charged, anti-system, and negative, employing moralized attacks on elites and stigmatization of out-groups, consistent with radical right populist communication and the presence of “complete populism.” Nationalism, nativism, leader personalization, and messianic self-presentation intensify engagement and reinforce the “us vs. them” dichotomy. These findings contribute empirical evidence on how socially mediated populist communication operates in Portugal, aligning with European patterns of radical right discourse and illustrating the role of social media in amplifying antagonistic, exclusionary narratives. The paper situates these dynamics within the hybrid media environment and the broader political context in which Chega has consolidated its position in Portuguese politics.