Anti-Muslim Narratives by the AfD and FPÖ on X (Twitter), 2024-2025
Right-wing populist parties increasingly leverage digital media to reshape European politics. This thesis investigates how the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) construct and deploy anti-Muslim narratives on X (formerly Twitter). Through a multimodal critical discourse analysis of 104 tweets from their 2024/2025 election campaigns, this study examines how they frame Islam as a threat to mobilize voters and influence public opinion. The findings reveal a shared strategy of anti-establishment attacks and securitizing migration. However, significant rhetorical differences emerge. The AfD’s approach is characterized by the direct criminalization of Muslims, creating a visceral sense of physical and cultural threat. In contrast, the more established FPÖ employs a multifaceted strategy, using concepts like "political Islam" and the strategic inclusion of "acceptable" migrants to legitimize its exclusionary agenda. This research demonstrates how the specific affordances of digital platforms, such as algorithmic amplification, are instrumental in this process. It concludes that the strategic use of anti-Muslim narratives is part of a hegemonic struggle to redefine societal common sense, normalize an exclusionary worldview, and legitimize a more authoritarian political order.
README: Research Data for MA Thesis Project Title: Anti-Muslim Narratives as Right-Wing Populist Strategy: The Use of X by the AfD and FPÖ --- 1. Brief Description This archive contains the complete research data for the Master's thesis titled "Anti-Muslim Narratives as Right-Wing Populist Strategy: The Use of X by the AfD and FPÖ". The project investigates how the German right-wing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) and the Austrian Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) construct and deploy anti-Muslim narratives on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The data was collected during two distinct periods corresponding to the parties' election campaigns: --- 2. Methodology Summary The data consists of tweets collected from the official national X accounts of the AfD (@AfD) and the FPÖ (@FPOE_TV). Data was gathered using the X API. A census approach was used to collect all tweets (N=627) within the specified timeframes. The tweets were manually coded using a thematic analysis framework developed through a combination of deductive and inductive reasoning. In accordance with X's API Developer Agreement and to protect the privacy of individuals, the published dataset has been modified. The column containing direct URLs to individual tweets has been removed from all .csv files. Furthermore, to ensure the anonymity of retweeted accounts, all information identifying the original author has been removed. Retweets are identifiable only by the "RT" prefix in the tweet text; the source author is not mentioned in the text or available in any other form within the dataset. For a full explanation of the methodology, please refer to the thesis. For a detailed description of the coding schema, please see the Codebook.pdf file in this archive.
3. Description of Files in this Archive The entire data package is provided as a single compressed file, Research_Data.zip, which contains the following files: AfD_Tweets_Complete.csv: The complete dataset for the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), containing all 440 tweets collected. --- Lekaj, Arsa. (2025). Research Data for: Anti-Muslim Narratives as Right-Wing Populist Strategy: The Use of X by the AfD and FPÖ [Dataset]. Repository for Research Data Thuringia (REFODAT). https://doi.org/[DOI TO BE ASSIGNED BY REFODAT] --- For any questions regarding this dataset or the accompanying research, please contact the researcher via the contact information provided in their ORCID record.
Author/Researcher: Arsa Lekaj
Institution: University of Erfurt, MA Global Communication
Date of Publication: September 2025
- FPÖ (Austria 2024 Election): July 1, 2024 – October 1, 2024
- AfD (Germany 2025 Election): December 1, 2024 – March 1, 2025
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FPOE_Tweets_Complete.csv: The complete dataset for the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ), containing all 187 tweets collected.
AfD_Tweets_Islam.csv: The subset of AfD data containing only the 63 tweets identified under the 'Islam' theme.
FPOE_Tweets_Islam.csv: The subset of FPÖ data containing only the 41 tweets identified under the 'Islam' theme.
Codebook.pdf: A detailed description of the thematic coding framework used to analyze the tweets.
Appendix_Materials.pdf: A supplementary PDF containing the formatted transcripts and screenshots referenced in the thesis.
README.txt: This file.
4. How to Cite this Dataset
5. Contact Information
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2325-757X
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