Endorsing Populism: Social Media Influencers Rallying Behind the 2024 Indonesian Election Candidates

Social media influencers who previously rarely discussed politics became actively involved in campaign activities to endorse their preferred candidates in Indonesia’s 2024 elections. Their engagement reflects candidates’ attempts to harness the growing power of social media platforms and appeal to young voters, now central to electoral outcomes. This strategy simultaneously functions to mobilize youth support and as a mechanism that reinforces and amplifies narratives already circulating in online spaces. The image-making of candidates, intensified by influencers’ performances and perceived grassroots proximity, contributes significantly to the populist tone of the campaign environment, particularly around candidate pair 02, Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka. Using a discursive-performative approach informed by Laclau (2005) and Moffitt (2016), the analysis situates influencer-driven populism within broader global patterns, showing how the rise of social media influencers reshapes political communication and offers leverage for anticipating future trajectories of Indonesian politics.