The liberal election is happening on Instagram – Axios

While Facebook continues to take heat over being a tinderbox for conservative media, data shows that liberal, civically engaged voices are winning out on Instagram and the engagement is even higher there than on Facebook.

Why it matters: The politics playing out on Instagram reflect a younger, more progressive generation. Many have left Facebook to their parents.

What's going on: A range of data from the Facebook-owned social media metrics platform CrowdTangle shows that liberal-leaning messaging flourishes on Instagram and that the top accounts generate even more engagement than on Facebook.

Be smart: Facebook has taken heat over the fact that many of its most-engaged accounts belong to right-wing voices. Four of the five Facebook accounts with the most engagement over the past month belong to President Trump, Fox News, Breitbart and Ben Shapiro, per CrowdTangle data.

Yes, but: It's worth noting that CrowdTangle doesn't measure engagement from personal pages only interactions on posts from pages that belong to public figures, groups, publishers, companies, etc. Its data represents only part of what's actually shared and engaged with, but it helps to spotlight major trends across both platforms.

The big picture: The 50 biggest voices on Instagram generated 4x more engagement than the 50 biggest on Facebook over the last month. And these numbers don't even include the massive engagement that Instagram Stories generate.

There are major differences in how the two platforms are used, which contribute to the prevailing political attitudes.

Between the lines: A generational divide between the platforms helps to explain the political usage. While many younger voters maintain Facebook accounts, they spend more time and engage more deeply on Instagram.

Go deeper: Instagram morphs into an information powerhouse

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The liberal election is happening on Instagram - Axios