What undercover voters tell us about social media during the Senedd election campaign

After dramatically losing her seat in Welsh Labour's worst-ever Senedd election result, Eluned Morgan gave a concession speech mentioning – of all things – social media. The former first minister said it had "changed the way we do our politics" and now "sets the political narrative". One message, she said, cut through to voters: "If you want to stop Reform, then vote Plaid." It was far from the only factor she cited as contributing to her party's electoral collapse but, as it warranted a mention, it's worth asking: What role did social media play in the election, and how much of it was down to that message from Plaid Cymru? I've been covering social media throughout the campaign, through the undercover voters project. Over the past few weeks, I've dived into the world of AI-generated rage-bait and found parties were spending huge sums to show up on your Facebook feed. Lauren, Paul, Claire, Rohan, Siân and David are completely fictional people whose profiles have been drawn up with the help of the National Centre for Social Research (a concept which was originally created by social media investigations correspondent Marianna Spring). They were designed to reflect six completely diff