Political communication on TikTok - from the feminisation of discourse to incivility expressed in emoji form - An analysis of the Spanish political platform Sumar and reactions to its strategy

Aug 25, 2026

Uploaded by Noah

In a context of permanent electoral campaign, political communication specialists investigate the resources through which officials and parties seek to influence TikTok users. The study identifies idiosyncratic traits of the feminisation of political discourse on TikTok and examines users’ reactions to audiovisual content using text and emojis. It tests whether the inclusive tone of the feminised rhetorical style can transfer to TikTok and whether its features reduce incivility. Using the first seven months of Sumar’s activity, a mixed analysis verifies that anti-polarization rhetoric and storytelling neutralize extreme flaming despite imperfect adaptation.

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Political communication on TikTok: from the feminisation of discourse to incivility expressed in emoji form. An analysis of the Spanish political platform Sumar and reactions to its strategy Raquel Quevedo-Redondo; Salvador Gómez-García Nota: Este artículo se puede leer en español en: [https://revista.profesionaldelainformacion.com/index.php/EPI/article/view/87359](https://revista.profesionaldelainformacion.com/index.php/EPI/article/view/87359) Recommended citation: Quevedo-Redondo, Raquel; Gómez-García, Salvador (2023) . “Political communication on TikTok: from the feminisation of discourse to incivility expressed in emoji form. An analysis of the Spanish political platform Sumar and reactions to its strategy”. Profesional de la información, v. 32, n. 6, e3206XX. [https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.nov.11](https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.nov.11) Manuscript received on 10th May 2023 Accepted on 4th October 2023 Raquel Quevedo-Redondo * [https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6219-3237](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6219-3237) Universidad de Valladolid Departamento de Historia Moderna, Contemporánea, de América y Periodismo Plaza del Campus Universitario, s/n 47011 Valladolid, Spain [raquel.quevedo.redondo@uva.es](raquel.quevedo.redondo@uva.es) Salvador Gómez-García [https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5126-6464](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5126-6464)[ ](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5126-6464)Universidad Complutense de Madrid Departamento de Periodismo y Comunicación Global Av. Complutense, 3 28040 Madrid, Spain [salvgome@ucm.es](salvgome@ucm.es) Abstract In a context of permanent electoral campaign, an increasing number of political communication specialists are trying to unravel the resources with which government officials and their parties seek to influence TikTok users. From a broad perspective, the theme is more current than novel, however, in the specific case of this research, an academic void is identified by combining the identification of idiosyncratic traits of the feminization of political discourse in TikTok with the study of reactions (text and emojis) that audiovisual content imbued with this trend provokes in users. The intention is to find out whether the inclusive tone of the feminized rhetorical style can be extrapolated to the Chinese-origin social network and, if so, whether its particular characteristics mitigate forms of incivility. To carry out the checks, the first seven months of activity on TikTok by the political platform Sumar with its leader, Yolanda Díaz, as the protagonist of most of the videos, are selected. The mixed methodology of analysis on audiovisual content and comments allows to verify that, although the new Spanish party does not apply a strategy perfectly adapted to the social network under study, the anti-polarization rhetoric and the storytelling techniques manage to neutralize extreme forms of flaming. Keywords TikTok; Social media; Political communication; Political feminization; Incivility; Flaming; Yolanda Díaz; Sumar; Political parties; Politicians; Anti-polarization rhetoric; Storytelling; Emojis; Sentiment analysis. Funding This article is part of the project ‘Politainment’ in the face of media fragmentation: Disintermediation, engagement and polarisation (PID2020-114193RB-I00), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Micin) / State Agency of Research (AEI) and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) . Profesional de la información, 2023, v. 32, n. 6. e-ISSN: 1699-2407 1 Raquel Quevedo-Redondo; Salvador Gómez-García 1. Introduction In the third decade of the 21st century, the use of social media has become an essential part of the way that people aged 18 to 26 interact and communicate. This leads to the need to reflect on a distinctive feature of an entire lifestyle.‘Centennials’(or members of the so-called ‘generation Z’) are digital natives who have aroused growing interest among communication and marketing specialists (

FAQs

What research gap does the study address regarding TikTok political communication?

It combines the study of feminised traits in political discourse with an examination of how users react—through both text and emojis—to audiovisual content shaped by this trend.

How is the dataset for the analysis selected?

The study selects the first seven months of TikTok activity by the Spanish political platform Sumar, using Yolanda Díaz as the central protagonist of most videos.

What does the research conclude about incivility and flaming on TikTok?

Although Sumar does not fully apply a strategy adapted to TikTok, anti-polarization rhetoric and storytelling techniques help neutralize extreme forms of flaming.

Aug 25, 2026

Uploaded by Noah