TikTok has become a new campaign front for the PP, PSOE, Vox, and Sumar, who no longer limit themselves to publishing rallies or interventions and now compete with memes, viral audios, and references to popular culture to spread their messages during the pre-campaign for the general elections on November 29.
The change is visible in the official accounts. The PSOE has used images of Lydia Lozano and María Patiño to defend pensions, while the Partido Popular has resorted to footballer celebrations to encourage its followers to go to the polls.
The strategy is not limited to transferring institutional discourse to another medium. Parties are adjusting the format to the platform's language, with short videos, irony, and recognizable references, because on TikTok, the competition for a few seconds of attention weighs as much as the content itself.
Having a presence on platforms like TikTok or Instagram Reels is not a minor issue. Through these channels, parties seek to get closer to a key audience: young people. Knowing their codes, cultural references, and forms of humor allows them to adapt their messages to a more familiar language and capture the attention of those who constitute an important part of the electorate.
The commitment to these formats also has a practical advantage: it does not necessarily require large production budgets. A short video, a well-known scene from a series, or a viral audio can become a campaign piece without the need for a complex audiovisual deployment. However, direct dissemination has another side: the message reaches the user without necessarily passing through the contextualization filter of the media, which can leave out relevant nuances.
Humor and popular culture to enter the platform's flow
The use of memes allows condensing a criticism, a defense, or a slogan into a scene that the user immediately identifies. The message travels faster, albeit at the cost of simplifying the argument and depending on the cultural reference being recognizable to the recipient.
This format also allows content to circulate beyond the official party accounts. A political video can appear among entertainment or humor pieces without the user expressly looking for it and thus enter an environment where it competes with all kinds of content to capture attention on the same screen.
Professor and researcher Laura Cervi, a specialist in political communication and social networks at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, explained to Cadena SER on October 7 that the platform has altered political language by rewarding the visual, the fast, and the emotional. Adaptation, therefore, does not only consist of uploading a campaign video, but in producing pieces designed for that code.
More reach does not equate to more votes
The presence of parties on these platforms reflects very different strategies and levels of reach. Vox, a far-right party, stands out with around 1.1 million followers on both TikTok and Instagram, while the PP has 341,100 on the former and 189,000 on the latter. The PSOE, for its part, has 264,700 followers on TikTok and 225,000 on Instagram, compared to 101,600 and 218,000 for Sumar, respectively. In the case of the newly launched Frente Amplio, the figures are considerably smaller, with 1,846 followers on TikTok and 31,300 on Instagram, according to the data consulted.
The data is particularly striking when compared to electoral behavior. In the general elections of July 2023, the PSOE obtained significant support among young voters, although the result varied according to the age group analyzed. The comparison shows that digital presence and support at the polls are distinct dimensions: the number of followers allows observing the potential reach of an account, but it does not by itself determine a party's ability to convince voters.
A study published in the Revista Panamericana de Comunicación in 2025 analyzed 1,299 TikTok videos from the PP, PSOE, Vox, and Sumar disseminated between January 2024 and January 2025. The research found clear differences: Vox and Sumar more frequently resorted to viral formats, while the PP opted more for a critical discourse against Pedro Sánchez, and the PSOE and Sumar tended to use a more positive tone.
Vox and the appeal to emotions
In the case of Vox, emotional appeal occupies a prominent place in its communication strategy. A study by the University of Granada on the 2019 European elections campaign concluded that 70% of the analyzed messages resorted to emotions, compared to 20% that presented a more rational character. Among the identified resources were pride, identification with one's own group, anger, and insecurity.
This type of communication favors direct and easily recognizable messages, in which the emotional load can prevail over the detailed explanation of political arguments. Although the study does not specifically analyze TikTok, it helps to contextualize a form of communication that can adapt to the platform's short and viral formats.
The data shows a diverse political presence on social networks, but also an evident limit. Virality alone does not prove an electoral gain: views and interactions measure reach, not necessarily persuasion or vote change.
Humor, moreover, can reinforce one's own followers without convincing opponents. It can even circulate among users who share a publication to mock it, so a widely viewed content does not automatically equate to an effective piece in political terms.
The commitment to TikTok reflects, in any case, that the Spanish political dispute is no longer fought only in news programs or debates. Parties seek space on mobile phones with formats that mix current affairs, entertainment, and popular culture, while it remains to be seen how much that exposure weighs on the voter's final decision.