Italy: Berlusconi joins TikTok to woo young voters

Rome: Silvio Berlusconi, the 85-year-old leader of Italy’s centre-right Forza Italia party and former Italian premier, is to join TikTok ahead of the country’s general election on 25 September.

The billionaire media mogul pledged to make his TikTok debut on Sunday, as a growing number of Italian politicians attempt to woo younger voters on the mini-video social network.

News of Berlusconi’s arrival on TikTok came the day after Carlo Calenda, the leader of the small centrist party Azione, made the move to the social media platform.

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“I can’t dance, I look like a drunk bear. I can’t give make-up advice because I have a belly and I’m ugly” – Calenda warned – “But I can talk to you about politics, books, culture.”

Other Italian political leaders active on TikTok include Giuseppe Conte, of the populist MoVimento 5 Stelle, and Giorgia Meloni, of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia, who is tipped to become Italy’s next prime minister.

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The most followed political leader in Italy on TikTok however is Matteo Salvini, of the right-wing Lega party, who has more than half a million followers.

Enrico Letta, the leader of the centre-left Partito Democratico who made headlines on Friday over his ironic tweet about guanciale, is not on TikTok. For now.