The role of social media in the rise of right-wing populism in Finland

Abstract

Right-wing populism is typically entangled with xenophobic nationalism and neo-conservatism, which often usher in racism and misogyny. In this chapter, the authors take Finland as a case study to examine the role of media technology in the rise of right-wing populism. They demonstrate the strengthening of the far-right ideology on and through social media from the beginning of 2010s. It focuses on the mediated construction of two entangled ideologies in the right-wing populist movement racism and misogyny. In early spring 2020, the debate about Turkey opening its EU border to refugees made Jussi Halla-aho eagerly participate in this discussion in the parliament and on Twitter now as the chairperson of the leading opposition party of Finland. In this chapter, the authors have given examples of the relationship between social media and right-wing populism in a particular context, using as our case Finnish right-wing politician Jussi Halla-aho and his rise to political power.