Digital Populism in Pakistan: How Social Media is Reshaping Political Mobilization

Abstract

Digital populism has become a revolutionizing phenomenon in politics in Pakistan, which has altered mobilization practices in social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. This paper will review the role of digital populism and how it allows direct contact between leaders and their citizens without using the traditional media to look at the effects of the same on the grassroots mobilization, disinformation, and participation by the youth. The paper will concentrate on case studies like the PTI of Imran Khan and other opposition parties like PML-N and PPP and explain how influencers, bots, and echo chambers can be used to spread polarizing stories. Other issues facing the country and discussed in the article are government censorship, the urban-rural digital divide, and the subversion of democratic discourse by hyper-partisanship. In the future, it evaluates the future consequences of the AI, deepfakes, and emerging platforms towards the political stability of Pakistan. Although digital populism can be used to include people in their participation, its abuse can contribute to further polarization and the institutional mistrust. The study ends by providing policy outputs to strike a balance between the freedoms of the digital world and accountability and recommends the creation of regulatory frameworks, digital literacy, and ethical campaigning to protect the democratic future of Pakistan.

Keywords: Digital Populism, Pakistan, Social Media, Political Mobilization, Disinformation, Imran Khan, PTI, Censorship, AI, Deep-fakes, Democratic Stability