This report provides key insights into how Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) engaged on X / Twitter during April 2025. It notably shows how successful they have been in getting traction for their ideas. Despite its recent decrease in importance, X / Twitter remains (for the time being) by far the main social media for political messaging: the data we collected below still shows heavy use of X by the MEPs in order to engage in the public space. 

Tracking Commissioners’, MEPs’, ministers’ and private entities’ pro-active communication and the traction/feedback they receive (as well as how this evolves over time) provides valuable clues regarding future legislative action.

In total, during April we counted 431 MEPs who have used X (Twitter) to engage in the public arena. They have sent a total of 14.519 messages, out of which we counted 2.610 who have policy-related substance and which we have analysed in depth. The rest are non-policy related statements  (e.g. political endorsements or attacks, personal stories, events, etc.). 

There are important differences by country and political groups:

The visual above shows substantial national differences in terms of engagement on X. Most French and Polish MEPs are actively posting on the platform, whereas slightly more than half of German and Italian MEPs posted in April. Stakeholders should keep track of such metrics, especially considering the current multiplication of alternative micro-blogging platforms, which may further fragment political communication and make consistent outreach more challenging across member states.

It is also interesting to examine patterns by political group. After the change of X's ownership, policies and "population", the dynamics seem to have shifted considerably. Whereas left-leaning voices were dominating the tweetosphere a few years ago, it is now MEPs from the right-wing groups who tend to have greater impact on X. Not only are more MEPs from ECR, Patriots, and ESN more active on X, but their tweets also appear to trigger stronger reactions in terms of retweets, likes, and quotes. Several factors may explain this phenomenon:

- Centre-left users have become less active due to Elon Musk’s right-wing political positioning, which has reduced the reach and engagement potential for MEPs from S&D, Renew, and the Greens/EFA. They are now shifting to other platforms like BlueSky or Threads, but these are still to reach a critical mass. 

- Polarising content tends to be more amplified on X, compared to other digital platforms, which benefits fringe forces on both ends of the political spectrum. This is illustrated by the relatively strong presence of The Left MEPs, whose tweets generate more engagement than those of Patriots MEPs.

- As shown in our recent study on media coverage of MEPs, those from fringe factions—particularly on the right—tend to receive more negative (traditional) media coverage than others. As a result, these MEPs increasingly turn to direct communication with voters by investing more time, resources, and energy into maximizing their visibility on X and other digital platforms. In contrast, MEPs from mainstream groups may focus more on maintaining their presence in traditional media outlets.

Important: being influential on X does NOT equate influence on policy discussions. In order to measure the actual policy influence of MEPs, more criteria need to be taken into account, such as their legislative positions, their formal positions in institutions, their network in Brussels and domestically, among many others. Our MEP Influence Index by EUmatrix, which will be updated before the summer holidays, takes all these factors into account to provide a comprehensive assessment of MEPs' impact on policies. 

Who are the top influencers?

*See methodology explained at the bottom. 

Across the EU, the MEPs who have exerted the most influence over X (Twitter) during the reporting period are:

As expected, MEPs from more fringe political groups top our assessment of outreach on X for April 2025. While many of the most influential MEPs are from the right, the top spot is held by Rima Hassan from The Left, a prominent advocate for the Palestinian cause—one of the most prominent topics on the platform. 

The ranking is also dominated by MEPs from Poland, Spain, and France, which is unsurprising given that MEPs from larger countries tend to benefit from broader domestic audiences, leading to greater potential outreach. The chart below shows the top influencers per country (click on the black arrow in the visual below to view the results for each EU country)

NB: These assessments measure only the overall influence of MEPs on X. However, to truly understand how policy is shaped, it is essential to go beyond general engagement metrics and examine the specific topics MEPs address and the policy directions in which they are exerting influence—both on legislation and public opinion. This level of granular assessment, including influence by policy area and issue, is part of the premium services offered by EUmatrix. If you're interested in a trial or would like to learn more, feel free to contact us at [email protected].

On our platform, www.eumatrix.eu, you can also access the full historical database of statements and actions by MEPs, national governments, and Commissioners—covering votes, amendments, meetings, and more. The platform offers searchable and exportable data, analysed policy documents, and in-depth insights into key socio-political trends across the EU (*available with a premium account).

Methodology

We calculate an Influence Score for each tweet using the formula

    Influence Score = (1 × likes) + (6 × retweets) + (10 × quote tweets)

so that actions driving wider visibility count more than simple likes. Once every tweet has a weighted score, each tweet is mapped to a topic. Then, we analyse the direction of the policy view expressed and the strength of the message, i.e. moderate vs. strong. The weight of strong messages is doubled.