The Vannacci Social Bestiary: From 'Red Cockroaches' to 'Relatives' to Be Expelled

The online presence of Roberto Vannacci's supporters is characterized by fervent activity and aggressive rhetoric across platforms like X and TikTok. While Vannacci himself maintains a strong following, with 37,500 on X and 150,000 on TikTok, the sheer volume of user-generated content amplifying his message is notable.

Supporters frequently employ inflammatory language, including derogatory terms such as "red cockroaches" to describe left-wing opponents, echoing historical far-right rhetoric. Some online discussions escalate to calls for the physical expulsion of migrants and their entire families from Italy, with suggestions to start with a significant number of families to set a precedent.

Conversely, critics of Vannacci are equally vocal, often using his own rhetoric against him. Some challenge his stance on migration by pointing to his own family background, suggesting he should "remigrate" his Romanian wife and second-generation Italian daughters before addressing others.

Vannacci himself emphasizes that he personally manages his social media accounts to avoid misrepresentation, despite the time commitment. However, he acknowledges and is surprised by the "multitude of people" who create and share content related to him, even on platforms he does not actively use, like TikTok. This organic amplification, he notes, creates a significant echo chamber for his ideas, a phenomenon he likuens in scale, though not in origin, to "La Bestia" used by Matteo Salvini.