Interaction between debates in the Dutch House of Representatives and social media

What is the dynamic between political debate in the Dutch House of Representatives and reactions, commentary and framing on social media? Academics of the Utrecht University Faculty of Humanities and Data School, investigated this question. The researchers analysed data from various public sources: publicly accessible groups and accounts on X (previously Twitter) and Telegram where the Dutch language is used. Via large-scale text-analyses, the researchers identified words that may indicate treath or even radicalization. They researched a total of almost 50 million messages about Dutch politics. The messages in public sources were then compared to the public minutes of Dutch House of Representatives debates and media reports on those. This way, it was investigated whether or not there are connections between the debate in the Dutch House of Representatives and online radicalisation in regards to matters such as the origins of certain terms or ideas. No individuals were followed in the research project; the focus was on bigger dynamics: how radical expressions move from the edges of society to mainstream and even the Dutch House of Representatives, the heart of our democracy.