Populist Political Communication on Instagram in the 2024 European Elections

With the rapid rise of social media usage and its integration into daily life, platforms like X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram have emerged as essential tools for political communication. Political actors use these platforms to attract voters, exercise opposition to governmental policies, polarize public opinion, and comment on political agendas. This article focuses on the analysis of populist political communication on Instagram by three far-right political leaders—Italian Prime Minister and President of Fratelli d’Italia Giorgia Meloni (European Conservatives and Reformists), President of Elliniki Lysi and Member of Parliament Kyriakos Velopoulos (European Conservatives and Reformists), and the leader of Groupe Rassemblement National and Member of Parliament Marine Le Pen (Patriots for Europe)—during the 2024 European Parliament elections. The analysis centers on three main aspects of Instagram posts: linguistic strategies, thematic content, and audience engagement. Initially, the study examines the linguistic strategies of these politicians, such as the use of simple, comprehensible phrases combined with emotionally charged images. Their posts primarily emphasize nationalist values, cultural identity, and concerns about economic and social stability. Furthermore, the comparative analysis reveals diverse uses of emotionally charged posts, especially during the 2024 pre-election period, with strategies adapting to each nation’s political reality, thus imparting unique characteristics to each campaign. The findings underscore Instagram’s power in shaping political discourse and electoral behavior, highlighting the need for further study of digital communication in modern democracies.