From Whitmer’s Webby to Desantis’ campaign launch with Elon Musk, social media’s role is changing politcs [Video]

(FOX 2) – If someone wants a window into the future of social media’s impact on politics, they could do worse than look at India for signs.

The country’s prime minister Narendra Modi has 100 million followers on X, 91 million followers on Instagram, and 25 million on YouTube. His daily posts fill the scrolling feeds of his fans with inspirational messages, de-stress techniques, and even exercises.

Modi may not have been the creator of this dynamic, but he has fine-tuned the formula to directly reach voters – rather than through journalists who have traditionally been the gatekeeper for politicians getting their message out.

This marriage of politics and social media isn’t just on display in Asia, either.

“If you look at what happened with the Republican primaries, where were the candidates going to do their interviews?” said Dr. Joyojeet Pal. “You’ll find a number of them were doing it on popular YouTube channels.”

Pal is an …