In the final stretch of the elections, Lula (PT) has the largest number of followers on most social media platforms, while Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) and Renan Santos (Missão) stand out in terms of engagement – likes, comments and shares.
Among the candidates for federal deputy, Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG) and MC Gui (PSD-SP) emerge as the most popular. The Minas Gerais parliamentarian, who is seeking re-election, has more than 22 million followers on Instagram, while the singer has 11 million on Facebook.
Also notable are Luciana da Culinária (Podemos-GO), who leads on YouTube with 9 million (although her channel is just about cooking), and Adilson Barroso Bolsonarista (PL-SP), with 8.2 million on Facebook.
In the dispute for the Senate, the Bolsonaro family occupies the top of the ranking: Michelle (PL-DF) has 8.3 million followers on Instagram, followed by Carlos (PL-SC), with 4.2 million on the same platform. Next comes Marcos do Val, with 4 million on Facebook; Geraldo Rufino, with 3.6 million on Instagram; and Gustavo Gayer, with 3.1 million also on Instagram.
The data comes from a survey by Folha in partnership with Tubular, a platform from the company Chartbeat that monitors websites and social networks using different metrics. The analysis only covers the profiles reported to the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) by the almost 21 thousand candidates in the 2026 elections.
Considering the 20.9 thousand candidates in the country, the profiles with the highest number of followers are Nikolas Ferreira (22.3 million), Lula (15.4 million) and Flávio Bolsonaro (12.3 million), on Instagram; Luciana da Culinária (9 million) and Sikêra Jr. (5.6 million), on YouTube; Tiririca (7 million) and Lula (5.9 million), on TikTok; and MC Gui (11 million) and Adilson Barroso Bolsonarista (8.2 million), on Facebook.
Many of the candidates well positioned on the networks also stand out in electoral polls, such as Lula and Flávio, in the presidential race, and Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicanos-SP) and Cleitinho Azevedo (Republicanos-MG) in the race for state governments.
Other names gained relevance in politics by exploring social media, such as Nikolas, who has maintained a captive audience since his first election as deputy.
The so-called outsiders change with each election, but the phenomenon is not new. Digital political strategist and doctor in communication Maria Carolina Lopes recalls that senator Romário (no party) and federal deputy Tiririca (PSD-CE) also took advantage of their previous fame to gain space in politics.
"It's the share of candidates who do something else and take advantage of multiplatform fame, as in the cases of Tiririca and Romário, or the networks they work for, as in the case of Luciana da Culinária. It's always a risk, because you may simply not be elected and still lose followers", says the expert.
Instagram appears to be the network with the greatest appeal among presidential candidates. During the campaign, Flávio Bolsonaro recorded the highest volume of interactions, with more than 41 million. Renan Santos appears next, with around 30 million, ahead of Lula, with 29 million. The PL candidate also leads in the median number of interactions on the platform.
The PT member, in turn, had more views on Instagram, meaning his content reached more people. His publications exceeded 655 million views in the period, compared to 567 million for Flávio and 468 million for Renan, according to Tubular.
For Maria Carolina, left-wing voters are more restrained when sharing content and tend to protect themselves in their bubbles. Right-wing voters are more willing to interact with their candidates' publications.
Lula was the one who invested the most in his official profiles. Booster report from Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, shows that the PT member allocated R$6 million to social networks in the last 30 days. Next, Flávio Bolsonaro (R$ 997.5 thousand), Ronaldo Caiado (R$ 374.9 thousand) and Renan Santos (R$ 324.5 thousand) appear.
Boosting is prohibited from October 2nd to 5th and from October 23rd to 26th.
In Brazil, only Meta tools allow the sponsorship of political-electoral publications. Another widely explored feature, adds Maria Carolina, is the crossing of content between the company's different platforms: "You can boost a cross post to take people from Instagram to your WhatsApp."
Since the 2024 municipal elections, the TSE has determined that social networks exclude from their recommendation systems, during the electoral campaign, the official profiles declared by candidates. In practice, the measure restricted the possibility of platforms displaying a candidate's content to users who do not follow them, unless there is payment to boost publications.
One of the effects of the restriction was the increased importance of Instagram in campaigns. The platform was already a priority channel for candidates, but, with the reduction in organic reach through recommendation systems, content boosting gained even more weight.
The graphs below show the candidates with the most followers on the main social networks:
