Digital Populism, Polarization, and Disinformation: Gustavo Petro’s Discourse on Platform X

Abstract

This article analyzes how the digital communication of Colombian President Gustavo Petro on platform X incorporates characteristic elements of digital populism, as well as understanding the articulation with dynamics of polarization and disinformation in the Colombian public debate. Based on the theoretical review of populism, political communication, and digital platforms, it is argued that X’s architecture favors the circulation of messages with high emotional charge, discursive simplification, and political confrontation. Based on a review of the specialized literature and analysis of representative publications by Gustavo Petro on X, the main characteristics of digital populism in the Colombian context are examined. The results evidence the recurring presence of a discursive logic based on the opposition between “us” vs. “them”, characteristic of contemporary digital populism. Similarly, the articulation between populist strategies, affective polarization dynamics, and the circulation of content associated with disinformation was identified, which tend to mutually reinforce each other within the digital environment of platform X.