ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on political discourse and resistance within digital spaces. Through an online survey and in-depth interviews with administrators, moderators, and users of citizen-led anti-Trumpism political Facebook groups, the chapter reveals the motivations, perceptions, and experiences of a segment of American voters who engaged in political discussion within digital spaces ahead of the 2020 election and during the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social identity theory is used as a lens to understand why American voters joined political Facebook groups and the two-step flow of communication model is applied to social media to explain the influence of moderators and administrators as opinion leaders and influencers within Facebook groups. Evidence supporting the hypothesis that group-enforced rules, user norms, and platform standards shaped and limited political expression and partisan identity emerged as three major themes: understanding the path to becoming a political influencer; voicing partisan identity; and shaping political expression. The unintended shaping of political expression by the structural limitations of discussion group platforms is discussed. Semi-public digital forums simultaneously encourage building community and limit political expression.
