Our politics can't cope with TikTok's emotional instancy

Nobody is being deceived about the price of diesel - but the emotional register of this issue was skewed by online platforms

Fri, 17 Apr, 2026 - 00:42

Louise Ryan

Ten days ago, James Geoghegan was posting TikTok videos about agricultural machinery. Then a video about fuel costs got nearly 200,000 views, a dormant Facebook group reactivated, and within days O’Connell Street was impassable, half the state’s fuel supply was locked behind blockades, and the Defence Forces were being deployed.

On Wednesday, a minister of state resigned from the Government, and a confidence motion divided the Dáil. This demands explanation, but not because it represents a failure of information. Rather, it reveals how platforms now shape the relationship between genuine grievance and political action in ways our institutions are not yet equipped to understand.