Citizen–Elite Toxicity and Political Equality Online
2026-06-24
When doing politics online, representatives are increasingly subject to insults, threats, and offensive comments. But in what ways is citizen–elite toxicity a challenge for political equality? Bridging research in communication research and gendered political violence, we theorize that inequality in politicians’ exposure and reaction to online toxicity can arise from their identity, role, or online behavior. Analyzing a full sample of Twitter conversations between citizens and candidates ( N = 875,028) during the 2021 German national election, we estimate how candidates’ identity, role, and online behavior correlate with the frequency, form, and consequences of toxicity that they are exposed to. We find most support for our behavioral hypotheses, indicating that citizen–elite communications often function as counter-speech: right-wing parties’ candidates and those who tweet toxically themselves receive more toxic replies, and doing so reduces their tweet activity in the following days. Although the frequency and consequences of toxicity do not vary by candidates’ role and identity, we show that the form of attack does: Frontbencher candidates are more often personally insulted, whereas candidates from marginalized groups and culturally left-wing parties more often receive attacks directed at their party or policy propositions. In sum, this article reveals a complex and nuanced picture of how citizen–elite toxicity affects political equality online.