Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has become one of the most popular politicians on TikTok, although he opened his account only three weeks before the parliamentary elections. Although Pernar still has the most followers and post views, Plenković managed to overtake him in terms of number of likes (55.923), comments (5.276) and shares (22.052). This was demonstrated by Gong's “Analysis of Political Narratives on TikTok in the 2024 Election Campaign” which explored the political narratives and political environment of TikTok in the pre-campaign and campaign period for the parliamentary elections.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković became one of the most popular politicians on TikTok, even though he opened his account only three weeks prior to the parliamentary elections, overtaking the most popular TikTok politician Ivan Pernar in the number of likes (55.923), comments (5.276) and shares (22.052). In terms of the follower count (38.760) and post views (845.830), Plenković came close to Pernar, whose account has 149.691 followers and 1.133.634 post views. This was demonstrated by Gong's “Analysis of Political Narratives on TikTok in the 2024 Election Campaign” which investigated TikTok posts made during the parliamentary election.
And when it comes to political parties, the most followed are Možemo (12.161 followers) and HDZ (10.495), while the least popular were the Social Democrats (133 followers) and the Workers' Front (352 followers).
TikTok is the fastest growing social network in the world, preferred by users between the ages of 16 and 24, and during the parliamentary election it was the scene of various political campaigns, content and narratives by politicians, political parties and accounts that spread political content without official political affiliation. The aim of the analysis was therefore to list the politicians and political parties that use TikTok, to determine the reach of the published content and to observe the political narratives that are spreading on Croatian TikTok.*
Analysis results
For the period from March 1st to April 24th, 2.259 posts were collected, published by 11 political party accounts, 42 politician accounts and 33 accounts that spread political content without official political affiliation.
In these posts, a thematic division between pro-democratic and pro-EU and anti-democratic, anti-EU narratives was established. These two political narratives spread through the official accounts of politicians and parties and accounts that share non-party political content, reaching TikTok users with a variety of topics that reflect underlying social and political issues. The mainstream political scene, with parties like HDZ, SDP and Možemo, advocates democratic participation, social public policies and anti-corruption measures, aligning with European values and cooperation. In contrast, Domovinski pokret, Most and politicians like Mate Lukić, Ivan Pernar, Karolina Vidović Krišto and Mislav Kolakušić promote nationalist, anti-globalist and conspiratorial narratives, which challenge the foundations of democratic governance and European integration.
Regarding their presence on TikTok, both political narratives dominated certain aspects of user attention (likes and comments for pro-democracy, number of posts, views and shares for anti-democracy). However, a comparison of TikTok metrics and election results reveals that popularity on TikTok does not necessarily translate into electoral success. Of the ten accounts of politicians and parties with the highest number of posts, five did not enter the Parliament (Workers' Front, Katarina Peović, Mate Lukić, Ivan Pernar and Ava Karabatić). The same happened with three of the ten accounts with the largest number of followers (Ivan Pernar, Ava Karabatić and Karolina Vidović Krišto).
At the same time, it is significant that the language and tone used in HDZ's TikTok campaign did not correspond to their usual style of communication on social networks. It was not in line with the derogatory, offensive discourse used against all opposition parties, which Gong observed and investigated in its analysis of HDZ's official Facebook political communication.
Also, it was observed that right-wing users more often comment on posts opposite to their political beliefs. These comments were mostly negative, criticizing the work of political parties and politicians who made the announcement and claiming that their party would win. The same behavior was not observed among left-leaning users, who in their comments mostly emphasized support for accounts that share their values. Additionally, it was noticed that within the accounts that spread political content, which is not behind the parties, those who support and criticize politicians and parties dominate, dividing their speeches, which further deepens the existing political division.
Recommendations for improving the regulation of digital political campaigns
By recording the frequency of specific topics, the nature of the political narratives uncovered, and overall user engagement with the posts of the accounts spreading them, the analysis was able to provide valuable insights into the ways in which political narratives are communicated to the younger user base on TikTok. Based on these findings, Gong prepared a set of recommendations, with which it aims to raise awareness among the relevant national political institutions about the risks to democracy and election integrity posed by unregulated political communication on platforms like TikTok.
Improve monitoring of digital political campaigns
Due to the use of social media in election campaigns, the State Electoral Commission should, alongside monitoring campaign costs, place more emphasis on their digital content. Gong suggests that it monitors digital campaigns more proactively, sanctioning politicians/political parties for breaching election rules.
Greater transparency of election campaigns on social networks
Data on the usage of social media accounts by politicians and political parties remains underreported. This information can be obtained only by manually collecting data, or using hard-to-get tools. Gong recommends that the State Electoral Commission obliges political parties and politicians to timely provide publicly available, machine-readable reports on the usage of their official social media accounts during the electoral campaign. These reports should differentiate statistics for each social media platform which they use, containing follower count change and the post count during the electoral campaign period. In addition, these reports should contain a list of posts for each social media account, their content, post metrics (likes, shares, comments, total views), and post link.
Mandatory cataloging of official accounts of political candidates on social networks
In order to improve transparency of politicians’ and political parties’ social media accounts, from which they communicate with citizens, Gong proposes that the State Electoral Commission creates guidelines for electoral advertisment, through which they would oblige political candidates to deliver information on their official social media accounts, with links. Additionally, Gong recommends that other institutions and public bodies follow suit. For instance, the official website of the Croatian Parliament contains personal pages for all elected representatives, with personal information such as their education, date of birth, etc. Missing from it is a list of official social media accounts which they use, which would be helpful for monitoring their political communication.
Protection of children and minors
Observed TikTok content reveals anti-democratic, conspiratorial, and bigoted communication, which easily reaches underaged users. Also, evidence of manipulating children for political gains was found. Gong suggests that the relevant national bodies, especially the Ombudswoman for Children, react more proactively, in order to sanction those responsible and prevent the manipulation of minors.
Regulation of democratically dangerous narratives
Gong insists that the Croatian national regulator for Digital Security Act, HAKOM, should, in preparation for its introduction into Croatian legislature, actively monitor social media, and observe if electoral campaigns comply to the DSA and its electoral guidelines, which seek to suppress inauthentic behavior, deep fake content and non-transparent influencers. All this leaves room for foreign influence on the electoral process, which cannot be countered by a single body. Therefore, HAKOM should also establish coordination with other relevant national regulatory and monitorial bodies, in order to work together towards the prevention of foreign influence on digital platforms.
Read the entire analysis HERE:
Posts were collected using digital tools from LetsData.