Candystorm is a loanword used in the German language and is the antonym of shitstorm. Green German MP Volker Beck gave distinction to the term by using it to describe a wave of party support for Claudia Roth's bid for Party leadership on Twitter in late 2012. Roth had just before failed in her bid to be nominated as the party's top candidate in the 2013 federal elections, and was rumored not to be running for re-election as party leader.
Following these events, the term became popular in the German-speaking world, where it describes a wave of support for a cause or an individual within social media or elsewhere on the Internet.
Volker Beck called in July 2013 for a "candystorm for Edward Snowden", calling for admission of Snowden under hashtag #snowstorm22.
Cultural debate about the phenomenon
Axel Hoffmann, vice chairman of the liberal Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, saw this phenomenon as paradigmatic for the digital society: "This is the end of the liberal civil society. Shitstorm and candystorm rule." („Das Ende einer liberalen Bürgergesellschaft ist in Sicht. Der shit- oder candy-storm regiert.“)