In the lead-up to the Australian elections, social media emerges as a critical channel for candidates to connect with younger voters, especially Gen Z and Millennials. Research indicates a significant presence of political advertising on platforms like WeChat and RedNote, despite the latter's dark practices such as shadowbanning and content restrictions. Political figures leverage influencers and third-party endorsements to navigate the restrictions imposed by these platforms, underscoring their growing importance in modern political campaigning. This trend reflects a global pattern of democracies adapting to the unique challenges posed by social media and regulatory boundaries.
This election, social media has been a major battleground as candidates try to reach younger voters. As Gen Z and Millennials now make up the dominant voter bloc in Australia, securing their support is more electorally important than ever.
We've found they use influencers and third parties, blurring the lines between authorized political advertising and undisclosed campaigning.
Since 2019, WeChat has been a key platform for Australian politicians trying to reach Chinese-Australian voters. From 2022 onwards, our research has observed the rising political popularity of RedNote.
Platforms such as Facebook and Google maintain public ad repositories to document political advertising. On WeChat and RedNote, however, such content is not formally registered or subject to public scrutiny.
Collection
[
|
...
]