Most research on online political polarization has concentrated on Western democracies, leaving large parts of the world poorly understood. A new study published in EPJ Data Science turns to Pakistan, examining how political polarization and party alignments unfolded on Twitter (now X) between 2018 and 2022, a period spanning several pivotal moments of political change in the country.
Pakistan offers a distinctive setting for such an analysis. The authors describe it as a strategically significant but politically unstable democracy, characterized by a distinct party system, a contested media environment, and persistent turbulence. These features make it a revealing case for testing whether patterns observed in Western contexts hold elsewhere, particularly in the Global South, where institutional and cultural conditions differ substantially.
The research team, led by Anees Baqir with Alessandro Galeazzi, Andrea Drocco and Fabiana Zollo, analyzed the behavior and audiences of politicians from the country’s major political parties. Their analysis revealed consistent online activity among these politicians throughout the study period, with a particularly strong presence from opposition actors, who appeared especially active on the platform relative to their governing counterparts.
Beyond measuring activity levels, the study uncovered patterns of audience realignment over the four-year window. These included increasing convergence among opposition factions, whose online audiences grew more similar to one another over time, as well as visible shifts in the political affiliations of individual users. In other words, the online followings of political figures did not remain static but reorganized in ways that mirrored changes in the broader political landscape.
To make these observations systematic, the researchers quantified homophily, the tendency of users to connect with like-minded accounts, and cross-party interactions between supporters of different parties. By tracking these network measures across pivotal moments of change, they showed how the structure of online political networks reflects structural transformations in Pakistani politics. The authors argue that social media data of this kind are valuable not only for tracking macro-level trends but also for uncovering granular political transitions that might otherwise be difficult to observe. By extending polarization research to this understudied setting, the study aims to offer new insights for comparative research on polarization beyond Western contexts. As an open-access article, it is available to researchers and readers worldwide.
Subject of Research: Social media polarization and political realignment among Pakistani political parties on Twitter from 2018 to 2022
Article Title: Beyond the West: social media polarization and political realignment in Pakistan
Article References: Baqir, A., Galeazzi, A., Drocco, A., & Zollo, F. (2026). Beyond the West: social media polarization and political realignment in Pakistan. EPJ Data Science. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-026-00692-9
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1140/epjds/s13688-026-00692-9
Keywords: polarization, Pakistan, Twitter, social media, political realignment, homophily, opposition parties, Global South, network analysis, EPJ Data Science, Beyond, West
News Source: Denise Maddox. (October 30, 2026). Twitter data reveal political realignment among Pakistani parties from 2018 to 2022. Scienmag.
