#LOVEHIM, #LOVEHIMNOT, #LOVEHER, #LOVEHERNOT: Twitter and Hashtags of Love and Hate in 2018 Brazilian Presidential Campaign

Abstract Considering the widespread use of hashtags on Twitter, the purpose of this paper is to analyze how hashtags were used to express love and hate for candidates who ran for presidency in Brazil in 2018. The theoretical framework of the (Im)Politeness theory was the foundation for data analysis, together with studies concerning digital conversational style (SCOTT, 2015). From September 6 to October 6, 2018, around 3000 tweets posted by the presidential candidates and their followers were collected daily. Overall, the results indicate that hashtags served as strategies to intensify the manifestation of support for a candidate particularly, in posts on their competitor´s profile or to explicitly attack their rivals. Further, aggressive and unjustified content was manifested, displaying derogatory content, which was superficial and not carefully elaborated and/or rationalized. This usage points to an anti-debate, marked by hashtags paradoxically conveying support and attack, and by linguistic impoliteness.