Going negative across platforms and time: Assessing the supply and demand of
negative campaigning
This study investigates dynamics of negative campaigning by Norwegian political
parties on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter from 2013 to 2024. Analysing 89,791
posts from nine major parties, it uses a novel content analysis approach combining
Large Language Models (LLMs) and human annotation to categorize posts as negative,
positive or neutral. The findings show an overall rise in negative campaigning across
platforms, with significant changes following leadership shifts in the right-wing populist
Progress Party (PP). The study examines engagement levels, measured by likes, for
different content types. Initially, negative content attracted more engagement on
Facebook. This trend, however, decreased over time, while Instagram saw increased
engagement with negative content during later years. Twitter users appeared to
have rather consistently favoured negative content, reflecting its reputation for
incivility. The article enhances understanding of political communication strategies in
a high-choice media environment, emphasizing the need to tailor campaign strategies
to platform-specific user dynamics.
Available open access here.
