8. Navalny’s YouTube Communication During the Presidential Campaign 2016–2018

On December 13, 2016 Alexey Navalny announced on his YouTube channel that he was participating in the 2018 presidential election along with the incumbent president Vladimir Putin. His electoral campaign was guided by a large concentration of populist messages; however, this was also a time of the release of resonant video investigations into the corruption of high-ranking officials in Russia such as former Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. YouTube documentaries served as triggers to mass manifestations in major Russian cities. However, they did not lead to the resignation of officials and in the end, Navalny himself was barred from participation in the election. In this chapter, I look at his populist performances on YouTube during the presidential campaign of 2016–2018 and investigate how Navalny combined different communication tactics, be it journalism, activism, and populism, in his online interactions with citizens.