The Long-Distance Relationship Between Youth and Italian Politics on TikTok: Insights From the 2024 EU Election

Abstract

TikTok's rapid rise in media and information consumption among young Italians has recently prompted Italian politicians to stake out this space during election campaigns to engage a younger electorate, traditionally sidelined by mainstream news and political communication. However, attempts to tailor Italian political communication to the TikTok ecosystem are still undergoing a process of adaptation and familiarization (Boccia Artieri & Donato, 2024). This may reflect the challenges of engaging with TikTok's peculiarities: it is driven by youth-centered usage and language focused on entertainment and escapism (Cervi et al., 2023), and its predominantly algorithmic architecture shifts content circulation from relational networks to personalized recommendations. This configuration transforms the political experience on social media for both politicians and users, moving from relational interactivity toward a more aesthetic, performative dimension. In this context, our study examines how these TikTok characteristics affect the production, circulation, exposure, and evaluation of political content during the 2024 European Parliament election campaign. The analysis revolves around three main foci: How politicians used TikTok and leveraged the platform's features; how users encountered and assessed political content; and how the topics addressed by politicians on TikTok compare with those young Italians deem most important. The second-order election setting of the European elections (Reif & Schmitt, 1980), contrasted with youth voter appeal (Consiglio Nazionale dei Giovani, 2024), adds complexity, making the alignment of political and user interests a key driver of TikTok content circulation less predictable.