Europeanising public spheres: the case of the European Council summits on social media

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the extent to which European Council summits contribute to the Europeanisation of national public spheres, focusing on the use of X (formerly known as Twitter). The empirical analysis provided here entails quantitative elements on four European Council summits held in 2023: to what extent did X users located in different EU member states post about the European Council summits? On which issues did X users focus during the summits? To what extent did this activity generate transnational interactions? Through which language did X users mostly communicate? The findings seek to feed both the public discussion and academic dialogue about the impact of social media on the establishment of an online European public sphere. 1