Václav Štětka

Donald Trump’s victory in the November 2024 US presidential election has sparked fears that illiberal and authoritarian actors around the world will be further emboldened as a result, including in Central and Eastern Europe—a region which has been grappling with the rise of far-right populism and illiberalism for over a decade. However, the election campaign also highlighted the changing landscape of political communication, characterized by the increasing prominence and political importance of an alternative, predominantly right-wing media ecosystem, centered on internet influencers, podcasters, YouTubers, and other types of online celebrities. While similar trends have also been observed in Central and Eastern Europe, until now they have not been the subject of systematic scholarly attention. Focusing primarily on the Czech Republic in the context of the upcoming 2025 parliamentary elections, but also gathering relevant evidence from other countries in the region, Václav Štětka’s project seeks to fill this gap. It does so by exploring and critically assessing the impact of this new, influencer-driven and platform-enabled alternative information environment on the development of the illiberal public sphere in Central and Eastern Europe.