Mexico City, Jun 18 (EFE).- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday celebrated topping 1 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, which streams his daily press conferences and other official acts.
“I really want to thank those on YouTube, on Twitter, on Face (Facebook), communications is really advancing,” Lopez Obrador, the founder and leader of the leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena), said during his daily press conference at the National Palace.
In response to a question from a reporter, Lopez Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, said he was happy to reach 1 million subscribers on his own YouTube channel, a level that qualifies him for the digital platform’s Gold Play Button Award.
“They told me,” AMLO, who took office on Dec. 1 after a landslide electoral victory, said, referring to the honor.
The president thanked his press and communications office, which is headed by Jesus Ramirez Cuevas, for helping him manage the “blessed social networks.”
If invited to pick up the award, Lopez Obrador said he would send Ramirez Cuevas, who serves as administration spokesman and holds the title of social communications coordinator, in his place.
Social networks “are very good information media and debate, especially, is good. Sometimes the tone rises and it gets heated, but everyone participates, expresses themselves and demonstrates,” AMLO said.
“Even the bots participate,” the Mexican leader joked.
AMLO has had a relationship with the press that has been strained at times, with the president labeling many media outlets “conservative” and tagging them with the nickname “fifis.”
Lopez Obrador regularly uses his daily press conferences, which take place Monday to Friday, to rebut press reports that he considers inaccurate.
The president has said that he has the right to respond to stories that he objects to.
AMLO, however, has always championed social media, saying that these outlets allow the public to voice its opinions and level the playing field, diluting the power of media elites.
The 65-year-old Lopez Obrador currently has 1,017,488 subscribers on his YouTube channel; some 5.69 million Twitter followers; and about the same number of people who follow him on Facebook.