Why does Rupert Lowe outperform most world leaders on social media?

Rupert Lowe has more engagement on X than any world leader apart from India's Narendra Modi, and more views than any other MP in the UK.

We looked at every world leader and MP's social media pages to see how well they were performing, and why. Social media is the most immediate, easy and widely used method for world leaders and politicians to reach normal people today.

Two in five of Lowe's views came from posts Elon Musk amplified.

Much of Lowe's reach rests on one account. When Elon Musk amplifies Lowe, his views rise sharply. Outside X, Lowe's posts get about a quarter of the views.

Lowe outperforms most world leaders

Lowe's 72.7m X engagements this year put him second among world leaders, behind only Narendra Modi, with nearly five times Donald Trump's 15.2m.

Add TikTok and Lowe is still second, with 74.1m engagements against Modi's 102.7m, ahead of Bukele (60.7m), Lula (50.6m) and Macron (45.0m). On X views he is fourth, behind Modi, Trump and Japan's Takaichi.

How Musk drives Lowe's reach

43% of Lowe's X views this year came from posts Musk reposted, quoted, replied to or wrote about. Musk has amplified Lowe 121 times since June 2025, 86 of them this year.

Interestingly, despite the global prominence of a figure like Zelenskyy and Ukraine's importance in today's political discourse, Lowe has had two and a half times Zelenskyy's engagement on X this year, from fewer posts.

There is no outside factor as important as Musk's own control over the platform. The ability of prominent global leaders to reach wide audiences is almost entirely at the whim of his own political tastes and preferences.

A quote from Musk does the best. A Lowe post Musk quotes typically gets 92 times Lowe's usual views, an average of 30m. A reply or repost gives about three and a half times. 18 of Lowe's 20 most viewed posts this year were quoted by Musk, including the top one at 66m views.

Musk himself amplifies a narrow set of subjects:

• Crime and stabbings make up half the posts Musk amplified, against 17% of Lowe's other posts
• Grooming gangs and sexual offences make up 38%, against 10%
• Deportation and small boats make up 33%, against 18%

Since Musk last amplified him on 4 August, Lowe has had between 60m and 77m views a month, his three lowest months of the year.

When politicians post about these Musk-preferred subjects, even where Musk does not amplify their content personally, posts perform around 30% better than the average post, suggesting that X's algorithm systematically rewards politicians talking about these divisive culture-war topics.

How does Lowe compare to Tommy Robinson?

Tommy Robinson had more X views than Lowe this year, 2.46bn against 1.72bn, because he posts nearly three times as often. Lowe gets twice as many views per post, 527,000 against 260,000.

Musk amplifies Robinson more often, 140 times since June 2025 against 121 for Lowe, but Lowe relies on it far more. Posts Musk amplified account for 43% of Lowe's X views this year and 12% of Robinson's. Musk last amplified Robinson on 1 November, and Robinson's monthly views have held steady since the summer while Lowe's have fallen.

How does Lowe compare to other UK party leaders?

Across X, TikTok and Facebook, Lowe has had 2.09bn views this year, more than Nigel Farage, Andy Burnham and Kemi Badenoch put together (2.01bn).

• X carries Lowe. He has nearly four times Farage's X views, even though Farage has two and a half times as many followers
• Facebook audiences engage most with Lowe. His posts have had 62.9m reactions, comments and shares, almost twice Farage's 33.0m, from half Farage's views

Despite Farage's reputation as a dominant force on social media, and extensive coverage around Andy Burnham's social media bounce, Lowe is able to outmanoeuvre them both.

His content is not of high production value. Most of his furthest-travelling posts on X are text-only, and when Lowe does get in front of a camera, it is usually an unedited self-take.

However, a combination of Musk's support and Lowe's own willingness to take extreme positions on remigration and culture war flashpoints is allowing him to outreach established party leadership.

How fast is Lowe growing?

Lowe's audience is growing fast. His TikTok following has risen 59% since May, from 87,000 to 139,000, against 8% for Farage. On X he has gained 15,000 followers since mid-August to reach 906,000, while Farage has slipped slightly to 2.30m.

While Lowe's performance on social media is impressive, it is not translating directly to electoral victory. In the last few weeks, Lowe's party, Restore Britain, has stood 19 candidates across different council by-elections and won zero seats under its own party label. Instead, Lowe's massive impact on social media seems to be from global right-wing audiences which Elon Musk is helping him to reach.

However, Lowe does not need to win seats to have an impact on British politics. In the recent Makerfield by-election, Restore Britain squeezed Reform's vote from the right, helping clear Andy Burnham's path to leadership. Despite its limited electoral success, Restore is already demonstrating how an online movement can exert influence far beyond its actual support at the ballot box. Musk’s amplification of Lowe demonstrates how he can use X to exert influence over British politics, even from outside the country.

Figures cover 1 January to 31 October 2026 and come from the Knox Index, Knox Digital's database of politicians' posts on X, TikTok and Facebook. Engagements are likes, reposts, replies and quotes on X; likes, comments, shares and saves on TikTok; and reactions, comments and shares on Facebook. Musk amplifications run from June 2025 and were verified by hand. A post's usual views are the median views on Lowe's own posts in the 14 days either side, leaving out replies and anything Musk amplified.