Representation, Political Discontent and e-Petitions: How economic ideology and anti-elitism drive online petitioning in the EU

In this study we examine the ideological drivers of online mobilization through e-petition sharing on X, in five EU countries. Using a dataset of over 1.8 million users, we model the impact of attitudes toward political elites and economic ideology at both individual and group levels. Results show that mobilization is primarily explained by individual ideological orientations, which exert significant non-linear effects on the likelihood of mobilizing for e-petitions. In contrast, group-level average orientations have no influence, although divergence from these increases the likelihood of petition sharing, especially at ideological extremes. We identify three distinct high mobilization clusters: (i) centrist and left-populist users, who rally around anti-elite, anti-corruption petitions; (ii) pro-elite left users, who mobilize for redistribution and welfare policies; and (iii) pro-elite economic-right users, who tend to support petitions favoring tax cuts and market liberalism. Our findings reveal that the sharing of e-petitions on Social Media is influenced by both user-level characteristics, group-level ideological alignment, and other Social Media dynamics, underscoring the need for further research into the interplay of within-and between-group factors in online mobilization and the expression of political discontent through online political engagement in petitioning campaigns.