ABSTRACT Donald Trump’s announcement on 1 June 2017 to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement triggered public debate, potentially revealing patterns of climate change polarization. Political polarization refers to differences in opinions and political beliefs and it has been extensively studied on social media, but remains less explored in response to specific events. We study the Czech Twitter debate to demonstrate the event’s impact on the interaction patterns of partisan, elite (policy-shaping actors outside social media), and non-elite (public) users. The event increased opinion divergence between ideological supporters and opponents, thus increasing polarization. Typically, belief homophily, interacting with like-minded users, accompanies polarization; here, it didn’t increase due to expanded debate and resulting heterophilous interactions. Non-elite users drove polarization, likely following elite cues since elite users were extremely polarized already before the event. The event revealed a bipolar interaction pattern emerging afterward, likely indicating a latent coalition structure. KEY POLICY HIGHLIGHTS Political events can have a polarizing effect on climate debate. Increased user participation can decrease overall belief homophily – engagement with like-minded users – and increase polarization simultaneously. The political polarization of non-elite social media users likely follows elite cues. Political events that favor one side trigger the activity of the “losing” side in the debate on social media.
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