Article on the #Lützerath Protests in Environmental Communication

In the article “Activists Preserving the (Multi-Platform) Environment: Advocacy Coalitions of #Lützerath Climate Protests,” Hendrik Meyer, Patrick Zerrer, Hannah-Marie Büttner, and Tim Schatto-Eckrodt analyze how digital platforms shaped the climate protests surrounding the village of Lützerath.

Using automated network and content analyses as well as qualitative evaluations of a total of 259,334 German-language posts, the authors examine the roles of Twitter/X, Telegram, and Mastodon. While large, opposing coalitions of supporters and opponents emerged on Twitter/X, protest-critical voices dominated on Telegram, and supporters of the climate movement clearly prevailed on Mastodon.

Despite comparatively small advocacy networks, Telegram proved to be a central semi-public space for organizing protests and coordinating logistics. On Twitter/X and Mastodon, by contrast, public evaluations of protest goals, the actions of police and institutions, and broader questions of climate policy took center stage.