In anticipation of the first round of presidential elections in Poland, scheduled for May 18, 2025, we decided to research TikTok for the presence of political hashtags in trends. For our research, we used Exolyt — TikTok Social Intelligence Platform as a tool. AI tools were used for processing and visualizing the collected data.
We found the following hashtags for analysis:
- #wybory
- #wybory2025
- #polityka
- #debata
- #mentzen
- #nawrocki
- #trzaskowski
Time period for analysis: March 31, 2025 – April 28, 2025.
Let’s analyze the political hashtags found according to the same scheme:
#wybory
Here are the ten largest hashtag overlaps with this one:
Data was collected on 3202 videos that were posted during the study period.
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of views:
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of posts:
Views to likes ratio for top accounts:
/* The dot size depends on the number of posts.
Accounts with potentially inflated likes (high likes/views ratio):
Analysis:
High overlap with #mentzen (49%). Significant overlaps with #polityka (44%) and #polska (37%)
Top accounts:
- politykasiewgo leads in views (about 8 million)
- buk.w.bereicie and team.rafal are in the top three
Many accounts with high likes to views ratio (politronzpl – about 22%). Activity from smaller accounts with potentially inflated statistics is visible.
#wybory2025
Ten largest hashtag overlaps with #wybory2025
Data was collected on 2226 videos that were posted during the study period.
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of views:
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of posts:
Views to likes ratio for top accounts:
Accounts with potentially inflated likes (high likes/views ratio):
Analysis:
High overlap with #mentzen (48%). Significant overlaps with #konfederacja (31%) and #wybory (30%)
Top accounts:
- politykasiewgo leads again (about 8 million views)
- hejka.herman and polityczna.wiedza are in the top 3 for views
- bartkuziola.w leads in number of videos (about 100)
The “Olga” account has the highest likes to views ratio (25%). Accounts with suspiciously high engagement levels have been identified.
#polityka
Ten largest hashtag overlaps with #polityka
Data was collected on 3677 videos that were posted during the study period.
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of views:
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of posts:
Views to likes ratio for top accounts:
Accounts with potentially inflated likes (high likes/views ratio):
Analysis:
High overlap with #wybory (40%). Significant overlaps with #polska (39%) and #mentzen (38%)
Top accounts:
- politykasiewgo leads (about 9 million views)
- adrianandrzejewski is again among the leaders in views
- i_ukrainsko leads in number of videos (more than 120)
The fillie_fourmusic_ account shows an abnormally high likes to views ratio (almost 20%). Significant activity from accounts with fewer subscribers.
#debata
Ten largest hashtag overlaps with #debata
Data was collected on 1294 videos that were posted during the study period.
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of views:
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of posts:
Views to likes ratio for top accounts:
Accounts with potentially inflated likes (high likes/views ratio):
Analysis:
High overlap with #wybory (39%). Significant overlaps with #trzaskowski (38%) and #polityka (37%)
Top accounts:
- emileth_przez_lzy leads in views (more than 3.5 million)
- adriann.sigmy5 is in the top
- bartkuziola.w again leads in number of videos (more than 40)
The adriann.dymex account shows an extremely high likes to views ratio (about 18%). There is active overlap with debate and election hashtags.
#mentzen
Ten largest hashtag overlaps with #mentzen
Data was collected on 3287 videos that were posted during the study period.
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of views:
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of posts:
Views to likes ratio for top accounts:
Accounts with potentially inflated likes (high likes/views ratio):
Analysis:
High overlap with #konfederacja (45%). Significant overlaps with #wybory (43%) and #polityka (37%)
Top accounts:
- slawomirmentzen leads in views (almost 18 million)
- buk.w.bereicie and hejka.herman are among the leaders
- i_ukrainsko leads in number of videos (about 140)
The integrispl account has an extremely high likes to views ratio (about 20%). There is a close connection with confederation and election hashtags.
#nawrocki
Ten largest hashtag overlaps with #nawrocki
Data was collected on 1282 videos that were posted during the study period.
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of views:
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of posts:
Views to likes ratio for top accounts:
Accounts with potentially inflated likes (high likes/views ratio):
Analysis:
High overlap with #trzaskowski (67%). Significant overlaps with #mentzen (57%) and #wybory (47%)
Top accounts:
- buk.w.bereicie leads in views (almost 2.5 million)
- politykasiewgo is among the leaders
- bartkuziola.w again leads in number of videos (about 100)
The kamiloleksicki account shows an extremely high likes to views ratio (more than 16%). There is obvious overlap with hashtags of other candidates.
#trzaskowski
Ten largest hashtag overlaps with #trzaskowski
Data was collected on 2202 videos that were posted during the study period.
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of views:
Top 30 accounts with maximum number of posts:
Views to likes ratio for top accounts:
Accounts with potentially inflated likes (high likes/views ratio):
Analysis:
High overlap with #mentzen (52%). Significant overlaps with #wybory (46%) and #nawrocki (37%)
Top accounts:
- team.rafal leads in views (about 4 million)
- emileth_przez_lzy is among the leaders
- bartkuziola.w again leads in number of videos (more than 100)
The trzaskowski account has an extremely high likes to views ratio (more than 22%). There is a connection with opponent hashtags, indicating comparative discussions.
Key findings:
- Dominance of certain accounts – A small group of accounts (politykasiewgo, buk.w.bereicie, team.rafal, bartkuziola.w) appears in the top rankings for most political hashtags, indicating their significant influence in the Polish political TikTok space.
- High interconnectedness of hashtags – There is strong overlap between political hashtags, especially between the names of candidates, indicating comparative discussion of candidates and their positions by users.
- Suspicious activity – Many accounts show abnormally high likes to views ratios (sometimes 20-25%), which may indicate artificial content promotion.
- Concentration of views – There is a noticeable disproportion between the number of videos and their views, where few accounts receive a disproportionately large number of views.
- Pronounced presence of #mentzen – The hashtag associated with politician Mentzen shows a high degree of overlap with all other political hashtags, indicating his central role in the current political discourse or effective TikTok strategy.
Recommendations:
- Monitoring suspicious activity – It is necessary to track accounts with abnormally high likes to views ratios to identify potential manipulation attempts.
- Analysis of content strategies – The content of videos from leading accounts should be studied to identify effective methods of political communication on TikTok.
- Expanding the timeframe – It is desirable to continue monitoring before and after the elections to track changes in activity and influence.
- Detailed analysis of network interactions – Deeper research into the relationships between accounts is needed to identify coordinated groups.
- Comparative analysis with other platforms – It is advisable to compare the activity and tone of political discussions on TikTok with other social networks.
- Development of bot detection methodology – Develop more comprehensive algorithms for identifying inauthentic accounts using manipulative techniques.
- Development of influence assessment criteria – Define more precise metrics for measuring the real political influence of TikTok content on Polish voters.
This publication was prepared by Information Policy Blog
