Image management on TikTok: Visual communication strategies of radical left populist political leaders across six countries

Abstract This study examines the visual communication strategies of radical left populist political leaders on TikTok across six countries: France, Germany, Greece, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Drawing on image management theory, a discursive–performative approach to populism, and visual political communication, the study employs a quantitative (visual) content analysis of 825 TikTok posts published by six prominent radical left populist leaders. The findings reveal substantial cross-national variation rather than a common left populist communication style. While political content predominates across all cases, leaders differ markedly in their use of TikTok-specific affordances, symbolic representation, leader image, visual proximity, and anti-elite communication. The study concludes that radical left populism on TikTok is characterised by multiple visual repertoires shaped by ideological priorities, national contexts, and differing degrees of platform adaptation, rather than by a unified model of digital populist communication.