PARIS — Domination of social media was a key weapon in Donald Trump’s rise to the US presidency, and now France’s far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, is looking to follow suit, analysts say.

Le Pen has more than a million followers on both Twitter and Facebook, giving her a bigger social media platform than any other candidate for the French presidency.

Her party, the National Front (FN), is a veteran presence on the internet — it was the first political group in France to launch a website, back in 1996.

Now the party is trying to use the digital world to trump mainstream rivals and bypass the traditional media, “to speak directly to the public”.

 “The advantage of social media”, says political communication expert Christian Delporte, “is that you don’t have any opposition. You have your say, and you’re not bothered by a journalist who may contradict you”.

 FN supporters are already highly active on Twitter, Facebook and other digital vectors, targeting especially the conservatives’ champion, Francois Fillon.

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