The Democratic Cost of Pursuing Virality: A Study into Parliamentary Communications

Abstract

The transformation of parliamentarians into media producers has heightened concerns about emerging forms of political communication. This mixed-methods paper examines the strategies they employ to enhance their digital presence. Based on in-depth interviews, it shows that Brazilian parliamentarians believe that social media penalize them for posting about congressional matters, reporting that content about legislative work and constituency services receives little engagement online. Conversely, they view the production of antagonistic content and alignment with news cycles as essential to maintaining an engaging social media presence. A computational analysis of 4,5 million posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter supports these evaluations: posts about congressional matters are associated with lower engagement metrics, while the use of antagonistic language increases them. The analysis further discusses pathways through which visibility is sustained at the intersection of platform incentives and communicative practices. In sum, this mixed-methods study demonstrates that the mediatization of politics has created perverse incentives for parliamentarians to downplay congressional activity and prioritize confrontations on social media, weakening accountability in ways that may resonate far beyond Brazil.