TikTok, the most popular social network among young people, has become another ally in the presidential race for Palácio do Planalto. the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) created an account on the platform on Monday, 20th. As of Tuesday afternoon, he had already gained 37,900 followers, which gives an average of 18,000 new fans per day.
Two videos were posted on the former president’s account after the account was started. One of them shows his wife, Rosângela Silva, known as Janja, singing the jingle “Without fear of being happy”, the one from the old chorus “Lula lá”. a funk beat, with reference to programs like ProUni and Fies. “There’s still no dance, but Lula has already done it. And it also promoted a real transformation in Brazilian education”, says the caption.
Current leader in the polls, Lula will need to do much more on TikTok to get closer to the network performance of his main rival. In a free mathematical exercise, maintaining the current pace of gaining followers, the PT would take more than three months to surpass Jair Bolsonaro on the platform – this in the unlikely event that the president does not gain any more fans in the period.
The president is the candidate with the most followers on the platform: 1.7 million. The account was created in October 2021 and has videos with millions of views. In search of the young electorate, the president’s profile uses a more relaxed and mocking language on TikTok. No wonder, as polls show that Lula leads among this age group. In addition to excerpts from speeches, lives and attacks on the left, Bolsonaro’s team has also invested in the use of “memes”.
Other presidential candidates on TikTok display much more modest numbers. Ciro Gomes has 145 800 followers and Simone Tebet only 3988.