Is real life downstream of social media conversation, or are ‘the very online’ living parallel lives to the rest of the country? The UK local elections on May 6th 2026 were a good opportunity to find out.
Our Maiven team analysed how people were discussing the elections in the final days of the campaign, and in the aftermath of the vote.
We used Pulsar to analyse social media conversations specifically related to the UK local elections (including related terms like “council elections” but excluding terms like “Westminster election”). Pulsar monitors all major platforms, including Reddit, TikTok and Threads, plus digital news sources and forums. The analysis that follows does not include conversations in BlueSky, a left-leaning, politically engaged community.
We captured the data in two waves:
The results are best understood as a representative sample of the conversation, with the ratios more important than the absolute totals. Here are the ten things you need to know.
1. Men are the biggest political contributors
Male contributors accounted for a large majority of posts in every age group.
Of the 134,000 unique authors of local election content during this period, 65.1% were men, with a further14.4% unknown.
Contributors over the age of 40 accounted for over 40%of the total posts, with older Zoomers (19-29) more active than younger Millennials (30-39).
American audiences and commentators were highly engaged in the conversation, with US-based profiles accounting for 33% of all contributors.
2. X remains the biggest platform for UK political debate
Despite (or perhaps because of) boycotts by many political figures and media brands, X remains the biggest platform for UK political debate, by far.
When we examine which platforms generated the most posts specifically focused on the local elections, we find that X generated more than 100 times the next biggest platforms. Reddit results are split over multiple threads, the biggest of which is r/Ukpolitics, but cumulatively, it edges out Facebook.
Instagram, YouTube and TikTok were also influential platforms, while MSN was the only news platform that broke into the top ten. These platforms grew their share of the conversation from the first to the second wave, as the focus shifted to the results.
As we will see from the remainder of the data, X’s dominance has profound effects on the influencers and topics that shaped the conversation.
3. The conversation was about Labour and Reform
Despite the energy and momentum behind the Greens going into this election (and their impressive gains),they barely registered in the national conversation*, with the collapse of Labour and the rise of Reform dominating.
This chart shows which brands were discussed in relation to the election, with Labour (red) and Reform(teal) representing the vast majority of all relevant content. The BBC and the Conservatives were third and fourth respectively.
Supporters of other parties were more interested in debating the fates of Labour and Reform than they were discussing their own parties’ prospects or performances. Lapsed Labour voters intending to vote Green were focused on criticising their former party.
4. Starmer and sectarianism shaped the conversation
Questions about Starmer’s future dominated the conversation.
When we analyse which individuals appeared most often in posts about the elections, Starmer was the most-talked about leader throughout the election period. Nigel Farage, Rupert Lowe, David Lammy also appear in the top ten. Brand Farage appears twice.
This election was also characterised by concern about sectarianism and division, and three figures who broke into the top ten represented this aspect of the debate:
5. Grok is the fourth Dimbleby Brother
Once, the nation looked to one Dimbleby or another to sort electoral fact from fiction. But in the run up to this election, Grok, X’s resident LLM, was the most-viewed election authority.
The pre-eminent role of X in political discussions, combined with the public’s growing fondness for asking Grok whether a claim is true, helped the bot achieve 21X the number of impressions for any other single source. An incredible performance, given that Grok content was confined to a single platform. Newswires and broadcasters formed the remainder of the top five.
However, when we analyse the content that users actively engaged with, the AP’s Jill Lawless had the edge over the second-placed bot. Tommy Robinson, GB News and Lauren Frayer (NPR) made up the rest of the top five.
6. Restore Britain formed a powerful movement
Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain party (standing as Great Yarmouth First) only contested one Council, but despite this, #RestoreBritain was the most-used hashtag in the run up to the election, and sentiment was overwhelmingly positive.
The party won all ten of the seats it contested, in defiance of Nigel Farage’s dismissive predictions. The very online community can have real-world impact when it mobilising.
More broadly, the hashtag landscape was dominated by ‘anti-establishment’ insurgent parties, particularly Restore, Reform and the SNP.
7. Nothing enrages the politically engaged like a Laura Kuenssberg interview
When we look at the second wave of data, which includes the election reaction period, we find that another highly-disciplined and well-organised community has emerged to claim top-spot.
The large and usually irate community that gathers round the #BBClaurak hashtag to discuss the BBC’s ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’ dominated, with sentiment largely negative. Interviewees included Labour MPs Bridget Phillipson and Catherine West, plus James Cleverly MP (Con), Richard Tice MP(Ref) and Rhun ap Iowerth MS (Plaid).
The result underlines the show’s convening power for political animals.
Elsewhere, sectarian concerns reappear with popular hashtags including #westerncivilisation and #islam.
8. The X UK local election community leans strongly towards Reform
Pulsar identifies the influencers and brands with which audiences have a strong “affinity”, defined as having shared interests, behaviours, and connections. Those producing content related to the local elections on X have a strong affinity to Reform or Reform-sympathetic accounts, including Guido Fawkes, GB News, Adam Brooks and Matt Goodwin. However, Restore’s Rupert Lowe narrowly claims the top spot.
9. The X UK local election community consists of unlikely bedfellows
Among the biggest audience segments on X, there are some surprising intersections:
British Music Fans – consists mostly of British men and US-based Anglophiles, united by libertarian tendencies. There is a strong overlap between this group and “Reform Advocates”
Labour Supporters – a combination of hard left and #FBPE Remainers, who follow influencers like Mike Galsworthy and Blade of the Sun, two commentators who have struggled to muster enthusiasm for Labour, but focus on the Green surge and threat from Reform. This group strongly overlaps with the ‘Patriotic British’ segment -Restore supporters with some left-leaning social and economic views, who are strongly influenced by Restore activists and online brands such as the Lotus Eaters.
10. A mixed ecosystem of sources
Pulsar rates only 73.5% of the sources involved in the conversation as ‘credible’. This reflects a mixed ecosystem of credible, partisan, and user-generated sources.
The conversation was led by a diverse influencer mix, balanced between mainstream media and high-visibility individual voices.
Get in touch to learn more about Maiven analytics: [email protected].
