ABSTRACT
Digital media have been seen as a force for democratization but they have recently come to be seen more as a source of disinformation and polarization. This chapter examines populism, particularly in China and India but also in Western democracies. There are similarities in populist uses of digital media, challenging traditional media and circumventing gatekeeping mechanisms, but also differences in how populists operate that depend on the particularities of media systems. Online media enable protest, but these counter-public spheres also promote anti-elite ultranationalist exclusionism. The chapter concludes by outlining approaches to counteracting populists and their supporters, offline and online.
