Identity and Personality in Digital Political Discourse: Between Algorithmic Heteronomy and Hate Speech

In today’s world, political communication is undergoing a rapid and profound transformation under the dual pressure of digitalization and algorithmic logic. Online political discourse increasingly functions as a tool of manipulation, simplification, and polarization, fuelling the spread of hate speech, violent rhetoric, and communicative practices that contribute to the depersonalization of the individual. This paper critically explores the connection between digital political communication, hate speech, and the crisis of subjectivity, highlighting how the structural logic of social media fosters media tribalism and symbolic radicalization. The rhetorical techniques used in digital debates–such as slogans and narrative frames–serve as mechanisms for reducing the Other to an enemy or target, reinforcing dynamics of exclusion and dehumanization. Within this context, we observe a gradual erosion of the political personality as an authoritative subject, replaced by viral figures constructed according to visibility metrics and adherence to highly ideologized narratives. Drawing on a multidisciplinary approach that intersects political theory and media studies, this paper examines the narrative and structural mechanisms behind the loss of subjectivity and the normalization of verbal violence. In conclusion, it considers the potential for reclaiming a communicative space grounded in responsibility, pluralism, and respect for the individual–through discursive practices that privilege complexity over simplification, and care over confrontation.