Does Social Media Level the Political Field or Reinforce Existing Inequalities? Cartographies of the 2022 Brazilian Election

Abstract

ABSTRACT If representation furnishes the stage where political struggles play out, this stage can be alarmingly small. In this study, we examine whether social media campaigns in the 2022 Brazil elections are inclusive. Based on the triangulation of data provided by Brazil’s Electoral Supreme Court, national census, and approximately 80,000 Facebook posts and ads, our findings reveal that candidates who lacked resources were either absent from this platform or received significantly less engagement. Those who already belonged to Brazil’s political class and invested more on content promotion online were more successful in boosting their social media metrics. We also find that campaigns were highly concentrated on populous and rich municipalities, thereby neglecting hundreds of cities in these communication efforts. Overall, our results suggest that social media will reproduce, rather than subvert, existing forms of inequality and exclusion in Brazilian representative politics.