Prime Minister Narendra Modi surpassed US President Joe Biden on the social media platform X on July 14, becoming the most followed serving international leader with 100 million followers. Biden currently has 38.1 million followers on X.
In India, BJP leader Narendra Modi leads all other politicians in terms of social media followings with 100 million followers, compared to Rahul Gandhi of the Congress with 26.4 million, Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, with 27.5 million, Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party with 19.9 million, and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee with 7.4 million.
Lalu Prasad Yadav of the RJD, Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD, and Sharad Pawar of the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) each have 6.3 million, 5.2 million, and 2.9 million, respectively.
Modi has nearly three times the Twitter following of Biden, putting him far ahead of most other global leaders.
Pope Francis has 18.5 million followers, while the current ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed has 11.2 million.
The only other world leader ahead of Modi on the microblogging platform is former US President Barack Obama, who has more than 130 million X followers. Obama, though, is not a head of state currently in office.
A source from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) claimed that because of PM Modi's widespread popularity and fan base, foreign leaders have been engaging with his social media accounts.
"This has been observed in Italy and Austria recently," the source said, alluding to the well-known selfie that Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni took with Modi.
Additionally, Prime Minister Modi has a larger fan base than well-known sportsmen like American basketball star LeBron James (52.9 million), Brazilian football player Neymar Jr. (63.6 million), and cricketer Virat Kohli (64.1 million).
In addition, Modi has more followers than celebrities like Kim Kardashian (75.2 million), Lady Gaga (83.1 million), and Taylor Swift (95.3 million).
According to data analytics, PM Modi's X handle has added an astounding 30 million users in the last three years.
With over 91 million followers on Instagram and close to 25 million subscribers on YouTube, he has a significant online following on both platforms.
Modi joined X in 2009 and has continuously engaged in positive activities on the platform.
"PM Modi keeps up a lively and interesting online persona, interacts with common people, follows a lot of them, and has never blocked anyone. He has never turned to bots or paid promotions; instead, he has always used this platform naturally, according to the source.
Modi tweeted on hitting 100 million on X, "A hundred million on @X! Happy to be on this vibrant medium and cherish the discussion, debate, insights, people’s blessings, constructive criticism, and more. Looking forward to an equally engaging time in the future as well."
