A study found that Reform UK boss Nigel Farage is the most popular British politician on TikTok, as younger users appear to be shifting away from establishment politicians.
An analysis of over 11,000 TikTok posts since the start of the year by the Knox Digital consultancy firm has found that, in terms of engagement, views, and virality, Nigel Farage is the most effective UK political figure, POLITICO reported.
Mr Farage, who can boast 1.4 million followers on the platform and 26.6 million likes on his videos, regularly posts content that attracts millions of viewers on TikTok, which, unlike other social media platforms, does not allow for political advertising, perhaps giving a clearer indication of organic reach.
This is far ahead of Knox Digital’s second-highest rated British politician TikToker, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. The 77-year-old socialist leader of the floundering leftist ‘Your Party’ has a fraction of Farage’s reach, with just 293,000 followers and 3.5 million likes on the platform.
Overall, the analysis found that over the past month, accounts linked to Farage’s Reform Party averaged 206,600 views per post. This was 12 times the reach recorded for the governing left-wing Labour Party, which has seen its popularity collapse since coming to power in 2024 as a protest vote against the neo-liberal ‘Conservative’ Party.
In addition to Farage, Reform UK MPs, including Robert Jenrick and Sarah Pochin, are also in the top ten British political performers on the platform, according to the study.
Among Labour MPs, none in Kier Starmer’s cabinet cracked the top ten, with TikTok viewers apparently preferring younger, more radical leftists such as Richard Burgon and Nadia Whittome, both members of Labour’s Socialist Campaign Group in the House of Commons. The only frontbencher to crack the top ten political accounts in Britain was a relative newcomer to the Conservative Shadow Cabinet, Katie Lam.
Meanwhile, the far-left Green Party and its radical leader Zack Polanski are said to have the highest engagement rate since the start of the year. Similarly, the Rupert Lowe-led Restore Britain breakaway party has also seen significant growth on the platform in recent weeks, the consultants found.
Knox Digital founder Jock McMillan said of the study: “Insurgent parties and politicians are winning online… As we’re seeing Reform and the Greens grow in the polls, we’re seeing a reflection of this online — especially amongst younger audiences disenchanted with the status quo.”
It comes as the left-wing Labour government has announced plans to ban children under the age of 16 from accessing social media sites like TikTok and to impose curfews on 16 and 17-year-olds, despite also supporting a move to allow them to vote.
Civil liberties critics of the plan have warned that the government will likely need to implement a form of digital ID to verify ages for the ban, which would likely impact how all citizens interact with the internet. Mr Farage, whose reach could be diminished by the move, said in a TikTok post on Monday that he would be “surprised” if many teens don’t find a way to get around the ban.