If you cannot rule them, misinform them! Communication strategies of Italian radical right-wing populist parties during the pandemic

The present research investigates the extent of misinformation and conspiracy theories in radical right-wing populist parties (RRPPs) in light of the pandemic. As the Covid-19 emergency progressively gave way to an 'infodemic' within the EU's domestic political systems, RRPPs made regular use of misinformation as a political tool to build consensus and to polarise the public debate. This strategy is further maximised within the realm of social media, which disintermediates communication and allows political actors to directly reach their preferred audience with personalised content. Relying on an original dataset based on fact-checked statements from politicians, our study conducts a descriptive mapping of the discursive tactics employed by the League and Brothers of Italy within the Italian political scenario throughout 2020.

本研究结合疫情背景，探究激进右翼民粹主义政党（radical right-wing populist parties, RRPPs）中错误信息与阴谋论的传播程度。随着新冠疫情（Covid-19）紧急状态在欧盟内部政治体系中逐步演变为一场“信息疫情（infodemic）”，RRPPs将错误信息作为政治工具常态化使用，以凝聚共识并极化公共辩论。这一策略在社交媒体领域得到进一步强化——社交媒体消除了传播的中间环节，使政治行为体能够通过个性化内容直接触达目标受众。本研究基于包含政客事实核查声明的原创数据集，对2020年意大利政治场景中联盟党（League）与意大利兄弟党（Brothers of Italy）所采用的话语策略进行了描述性图谱分析。