Many politicians use Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to share what essentially amounts to press releases: sterile statements and carefully crafted videos that look like they’ve been signed off by a dozen publicists and policy advisors before seeing the light of day.

In contrast, Ocasio-Cortez’s social media presence is direct and deeply personal. She uses emojis and memes. When right-wing commentators troll her on Twitter, where she has 3.9m followers, she claps right back. On Instagram (3.2m followers), she regularly hosts live Stories, answering questions about politics and her beauty regime as she cooks in her (very normal-looking) kitchen. Most politicians would seem inauthentic if they did all this. But when Ocasio-Cortez does it, it feels real.

Why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is cutting back on social media