The top stories and key influencers in the French election

July 3, 2024

Written by Benedict Nicholson
France is in the middle of going to the polls, after President Macron called a snap election back in June, following the success of the right-wing National Rally in the European elections. That success continued in round one of the elections on Sunday, and the French will go to the polls again this weekend to determine the final results. 

In this analysis, we’ll look at what coverage has resonated, as well as highlight some of the influential voices across social platforms.

French election coverage in the media 

The election was called in the immediate aftermath of the European elections, in which the National Rally party performed the best. Macron then called for elections in the National Assembly as the final results were still being tallied, calling for a moment of clarity for the country amidst shock from members of his own government.

image of french election timeline
As the chart above shows, there have been two clear peaks in both media and public interest, first the European elections and then the first round of the National Assembly elections, which happened this weekend. 

In each of these spikes, there was no clear dominant narrative. The first includes articles featuring both English and French reporting of the election results, while the second was thematically very similar, focusing on the success of Rassemblement National compared to President Macron’s governing coalition. 

There were actually slightly more articles written in the aftermath of the European elections than after this weekend’s first round, though public interest was higher in the latter elections. 

Social media is playing a big part in the coverage too, so let’s look at some of the top coverage natively on social platforms. 

Top social coverage of the French elections 2024 

The coverage has been quite different on the different platforms, and it’s reflective of social media as a whole. Our analysis does not separate English and French language posts, and it’s clear that native French posts are less prominent on X than on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and even Facebook. 

While the top posts on X are from the likes of End Wokeness and PeterSweden reveling in Macron’s initial defeats from afar, French language coverage is leading the conversation on the other platforms.

The clear lesson from Instagram and TikTok is the outsized influence of YouTuber Hugo Travers, better known to his audience as HugoDécrypte. Travers has a following of 3.8M on Instagram and more than 6M on TikTok, and that audience is reflected in the success of his coverage. He has posts on Instagram explaining the election that have hundreds of thousands of engagements, confirming the parallel media ecosystem that exists natively on social and doesn’t rely on websites and traditional newsrooms.
That’s not to say that traditional media can’t participate in this new ecosystem though. Quotidien, a popular TV show in the country, had several of the most engaged TikTok posts, including one analyzing comments made by Rassemblement National member Roger Chudeau that eschews the platform’s traditional short content with a five-minute interview piece.
@quotidienofficiel Le député sortant RN, Roger Chudeau a laissé entendre qu’avec Jordan Bardella Premier ministre, les binationaux ne seraient pas autorisés aux postes de ministres, prenant l’exemple de Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. Grand malaise en plateau... alors qu'on lui promettait le poste de ministre de l'Education en cas de majorité absolue du RN à l'Assemblée nationale 🏛️ #chudeau #rogerchudeau #najatvallaudbelkacem #vallaudbelkacem #video #polemica #polemique #france #tiktokfrance #news #tiktoknews #elections #election #vote #rassemblementnational ♬ son original - Quotidien
Of course, social media isn’t all media organizations, it’s also a place for the politicians to express themselves, and the RN politicians were among the most engaging. RN’s young leader Jordan Bardella said “when the people vote, the people win” on June 9, a sentiment echoed by the party’s influential Marine Le Pen. 
With the elections coming this weekend, there will doubtless be more coverage to come, and more posts as well, but so far it has been a case study in the new media ecosystem, with a mix of traditional media, new media, and politicians dominating the conversation online. 

If you’d like to read our coverage of the UK election, you can download our report here.  

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Benedict Nicholson

In addition to leading the NewsWhip Research Center in New York, Benedict Nicholson manages partnerships with internationally recognized media outlets furthering data journalism, which includes NewsWhip’s Data for Democracy program. Benedict also facilitates consultations with communicators from the top 10 public relations agencies across America and Europe and with Fortune 500 brands to discuss consumer engagement trends and effective media monitoring. Email Benedict via benedict.nicholson@newswhip.com.

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