Broadcasting anti‐media populism in the Philippines: YouTube influencers, networked political brokerage, and implications for governance

Abstract

AbstractThis article interrogates platform governance and accountability amid the growing role of influencers in constructing political discourses, and particularly, in the intermediation of anti‐media ideological frames through their embeddedness in networked assemblages. We deploy the concept of “networked political brokerage” to examine the sociotechnical relations among influencers, the platform, and its users, and how this dynamic assemblage engages in the intermediation of anti‐media populism. The study draws from a critical examination of the network and discursive tactics deployed by Filipino YouTube influencers who advance partisan political commentary and deceptive narratives to delegitimize mainstream media institutions through issue network analysis concerning the franchise denial and eventual shutdown of the Philippines' oldest media network, ABS‐CBN. We problematize how influencers engage platform affordances and cultures of use to enable, amplify, and fortify the brokering of their political agenda within a larger network of political actors, while eliding accountability. Through the mutually affirming relationship of content creators and the platform, networked hyperpoliticized contents gain visibility and galvanize anti‐media rhetoric. Ultimately, the article raises concerns on the social consequences of networked political brokerage and offers a framework for how governance and policy discussions can treat the functioning of such networked political influence.