Snapchat: European Politics in pictures

Launched in 2011, Snapchat is today the world's fastest growing social media network. It boasts more than 200 million user sending 8,796 photos every second. As one third of Snapchat users live in Europe, the European Parliament opened an account in May to give them the chance to find out more about European politics. Already more than 6,000 people follow the Parliament on Snapchat. Read on to find out more details.

Illustration for Snapchat
Discover the European Parliament on Snapchat

People on Snapchat typically send photos and videos with short texts and emojis added. Most users are under 30 years old, which makes the photo sharing app one of the youngest social media networks. For the Parliament it is a chance to reach out to future voters and give them an idea of what is going on in the Parliament.


Parliament posts on Snapchat


The Parliament publishes mainly stories on Snapchat. They are made up of pictures with text and short video clips to give followers a glimpse of life behind the scenes at the Parliament. How does the corridor of the Parliament look on a busy committee day? What can you hear when the plenary starts in the hemicycle? Recently the COP21 negotiations in Paris and the Sakharov ceremony in Strasbourg were covered on Snapchat.


Every Friday a wrap-up of the week is published, presenting that week's most important Parliament issues in a creative way.


Chance to interact


Snapchat also offers the chance to start a conversation with the Parliament. Every day we receive pictures, videos and questions from all over Europe and most users also get an answer.

Illustration for Snapchat
Scan the code here to follow our Snapchat account

If you have Snapchat and visit the European Parliament in Brussels or Strasbourg, you can also add our geo-filter to your picture. A geo-filter is a picture of the Parliament that is added on your picture and marks your location. However, it is only available by visiting a specific location.

Interested? You add us by looking up the username “europarl” or by scanning the ghost picture.


This article was originally published on 6 November 2015. This version has been updated.


Click here for more news from the European Parliament.

Find out more