Digital Discourse and Democratic Integrity: Analyzing the Polarization of the Public Sphere through the Rejection of Diana Șoșoacă's Presidential Candidacy in Romania

This paper explores the tension between the democratic promise of the internet and its role in amplifying extremist ideologies, focusing on the recent rejection of Diana Șoșoacă’s presidential candidacy by the Constitutional Court of Romania. Șoșoacă, a polarizing political figure, leveraged social media to build visibility and support, particularly from fringe groups aligned with her extremist views. The Constitutional Court's decision not only highlights legal challenges but also underscores the broader issue of how digital platforms can facilitate the spread of radical political narratives.

Using a qualitative content analysis of social media interactions, over 30.000 units of analysis, particularly on TikTok, this study investigates how extremist discourse surrounding Șoșoacă’s campaign gained traction and shaped public opinion. TikTok’s highly interactive and often unregulated comment sections provide a rich field for observing patterns of extremist rhetoric and deviations from democratic norms. To deepen the analysis, large-scale data collection will be conducted using a specialized TikTok extension, allowing the study to gather significant amounts of data on user interactions. This enhanced data collection method will enable a more comprehensive examination of the ways in which extremist narratives permeate online discourse.

The findings suggest that, while digital platforms have democratized access to political participation, they have also enabled the mainstreaming of extremist ideologies, posing potential risks to democratic stability. This case study highlights the urgent need for more robust regulatory frameworks to monitor and control the influence of radical content as these platforms continue to grow. It also calls for a reassessment of the role digital technologies play in shaping contemporary political discourse, stressing the need to balance open political engagement with the protection of democratic values from the threats posed by extremist ideologies.