Digital Populism in Nepal: Social Media–Driven Political Communication and the Wave of Populist Politics in Nepal

Abstract

This study aims to examine the increasing phenomenon of populism in Nepal and primarily, the role of social media in the process of constructing political communication and public opinion. While studies on populism are growing across the globe, an empirical gap exists concerning how digital platforms foster populist mobilization in a developing country such as Nepal. Particularly, not much systematic work has focused on the extent to which the format of online political communication shape the affective framing, the political polarization, and the leader-focused discourse in Nepali politics. The present study, therefore, seeks to fill this gap through the use of a mixed-method research design, in which political figures' social media content has been qualitatively analysed along with the quantitative analysis of engagement level on multiple platforms (Facebook, TikTok and X). Key techniques of communication and prevailing discourse style of popular communication are identified through thematic coding and sentiment analysis. This research reveals how the emotive content, anti-elite discourse, and group-identity based framing over the platforms mobilize the populist agenda through social media. All these techniques and strategies serve to exacerbate the polarization of politics and the rapid diffusion of populist rhetoric among the young digital natives. The algorithmic visibility also contributes to continue propagation of the populist contents. This study constructs a model for the local understanding of digital populism in Nepal, analyzing how social media networks mediate the political landscape to create an enabling environment for populist Politics in a transitional democracy.