Digital Populism in Taiwan: A Comparative Study of Han Kuo-yu and Ko Wen-je’s Online Politics

This article explores how digital platforms have shaped the trajectory of populism in Taiwan in the post-Sunflower Movement era. Drawing on over 6,400 Facebook posts by Han Kuo-yu and Ko Wen-je (2011–2025), and employing tools such as LIWC, BERTopic, and TF-IDF, the study finds that both figures diverge from Western exclusionary populism by constructing inclusive notions of “the people” that transcend entrenched ideological divides in Taiwan’s polarized political landscape (Mudde and Kaltwasser 2013). Rather than engaging directly in the unification–independence debate, both adopt a “thin-centered” populist logic to reframe Taiwanese identity through digital platforms (Mudde 2004).
The article proposes the concept of “soothing populism”—a media-performative, emotionally positive, and crisis-responsive style—based on Moffitt’s (2016) theory of populist political style, to analyze this phenomenon. It argues that Taiwan’s digital populism contrasts with the confrontational character of many Western forms (e.g., Wodak 2015; Norris and Inglehart 2019), and instead resonates with left-wing traditions, particularly Canovan’s argument of populism as a “shadow” of representative democracy (Canovan 1999).
The article further contends that digital platforms actively configure the conditions under which populist messages evolve, amplifying content where grassroots demands intersect with populist strategies. In this way, Taiwan’s digital populism combines bottom-up participation with top-down mediation. Digital platforms have accelerated Taiwan’s trend toward direct democracy, continuously challenging its representative democracy.