During the 2017 French presidential election, Emmanuel Macron was the darling of digital democracy. With his calls for a “startup nation,” the future head of state placed technology at the centre not only of his programme but also of his campaign.
The now-president’s digital performance in the run-up to this year’s election has been much less clear-cut. It’s left-wing Jean-Luc Mélenchon who’s been trying to push the technological envelope, going so far as to appear in the form of a hologram, while Macron concentrated on shifting his programme to the right. And while he still leads in the polls, his margin is slipping. Indeed, five years after Macron took office, far-right candidates have been more effective than Macron at exploiting the Internet and social networks.
In the newly published book L’illusion de la démocratie numérique. Internet est-il de droite? (EPFL Press), I argue that conservatives dominate online. While the Internet may have been a key part of left-leaning movements, such as the Arab Spring or Occupy Wall Street, the right dominates the online world thanks to factors such as its popular bases, hierarchical organisations, capital, as well as social inequality. The French presidential elections are a case in point.
