TikTokeurs in the White House. a publicity stunt or a real political tool?

Remember, on Tuesday, October 25th, two weeks before the midterm elections, President Joe Biden took a smiling selfie in front of the White House. Next to him, not fifty people in suits and ties, but eight very influential tiktokers who were invited by the Democratic National Committee for an official visit to Washington. During the program, a tour of the Supreme Court and the Capitol, a discussion with Barack Obama, a private interview with the President of the United States in the Oval Office and discussions with high-ranking representatives of the Democratic Party. The stated goal was to encourage these young influencers to mobilize their audience to vote during this important period. Among these tiktokeurs we find quite apolitical profiles: Vitus Spehar from the show Under The Desk News and his 2.7 million subscribers, or the actress Nia Siu, 21 years old and no less than 8.3 million followers.

Enthusiastic Young Americans highlighted the lack of civics education that affects young people’s political engagement. Sue even had to clarify after one of her videos that she was talking about the midterm political elections, not her midterm exams at university… This wasn’t the first time famous tiktokers walked through the door of the White House. . In March, for example, they were invited to a briefing on the war in Ukraine, which resulted in an appearance on the popular TV show Saturday Night Live, in which Joe Biden and press officer Jen Psaki offered advice to clueless teenagers about Ukraine. .

TikTok: a new source of information for 18-29 year olds

The growth of TikTok has made it an important tool, not only as a social network, but also as a source of information. According to a recent survey by Pew Research, 26% of 18-29 year olds in the United States now use TikTok, compared to 18% in 2021 and 9% in 2020. This figure is decreasing among the majority. other social networks. Today, TikTok has one billion users worldwide, with 200 million in the United States alone. An ideal communication channel. However, neither the US president nor any member of his administration has an active account. Joe Biden has made several comedic appearances in influential videos, and Barack Obama recently urged Americans to vote on Vitus Spehar’s show.

TikTok’s use as a political tool contrasts with another factor: the vast majority of federal government employees, particularly the White House, are barred from downloading TikTok to their professional devices for security reasons. Moreover, only the Democratic Party is present on the platform. This means the Biden administration has a responsibility to educate young ambassadors to deliver its messages to an increasingly large audience, and especially to an age group it has little access to. Assumed strategy. “The key to beating TikTok in the political arena is not so much your own content, but how you communicate your message to creators,” said Rob Flaherty, director of digital strategy at the White House. That means you have to take them seriously.”

An underrated political tool

On the Democratic side, one of the most popular TikTok influencers is just 18-year-old Aidan Cohn-Murphy, who founded Gen-Z for Change. This one comes across as progressive and posts on social media to encourage Generation Z (born between the late 1990s and 2010s) to take an interest in politics. Gen-Z for Change is particularly active on TikTok, where its network of influencers has more than 500 million subscribers. It was Aidan Cohn-Murphy who coordinated the briefing on Ukraine at the White House and was amused by the sketch on it. “It’s very nice to do something that’s so iconic that it’s parodied.”

But, as for many others, this characteristic of humor also shows how the country as a whole has not measured the importance of TikTok as a political weapon. On the downside, political parties do not control the way the message is delivered, and the messages sent by tiktokers have sometimes caused slippage. Like when a young Texan influencer, a member of Gen-Z for Change, invited his audience to send fake tips to a website set up to denounce potential violations of the law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. This led to a flood of pornographic images, which forced the site to be shut down. Or when Gen-Z for Change, learning that Starbucks had fired employees who tried to form a union, helped send more than 80,000 fake applications to the coffee chain.

Trump appointee Brendan Carr testified before Congress that he was “very concerned” about the potential data collection. Republican congressman and senator recently introduced a bill to ban TikTok in the US

Distrust of conservatives

On the other side of the political spectrum, Republicans have an even more complicated relationship with TikTok. While in office, Donald Trump announced a ban on the Chinese social network in the United States before backing down. The reason was that TikTok is handing over the data of its American users to the Chinese government, which the social network denies, although it admits that its employees have access to some information. In mid-November, Trump-appointed FBI Director Brendan Carr testified before Congress that he was “very concerned” about the potential data collection. A Republican congressman and senator recently introduced a bill to ban TikTok in the US. But with Congress split between a Republican-dominated House and a Democratic Senate, it looks like a compromise. Meanwhile, Washington is negotiating directly with the social network to keep personal information on its territory for national security purposes. Although the agreement has not been announced yet.

Conservative tickers, however, exist on a social network that they easily tax as a measure of vocism and communism. Their philosophy is focused on fighting this current of the left, particularly with the #socialismsucks hashtag and admiration for Donald Trump. Above all, conservative tickers believe that liberals are trying to erase all other currents of thought by protesting this popular “null culture” that will silence someone for words or actions deemed unacceptable. For them, young people today are inundated with political utopias conveyed by the left. “The problem is not that young people oppose conservative ideas, it’s just that they don’t follow them,” said Judge Charlie Kirk, president of the conservative student organization Turning Point USA.

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Some conservative profiles manage to stand out. One of the most prominent among them is Christian Walker, known for his subscriber base and also for being the son of Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker in Georgia, a key seat up for grabs in a December runoff. The latter is in bad shape after the revelations that he financed the abortion of a former lover who said he was against abortion. His son criticized his father’s candidacy, but above all, he posted provocative videos against the Black Lives Matter movement, among others, which led to him being banned from TikTok when he had more than 400,000 subscribers. He has since rebuilt his profile and resumed a more politically correct speech, constantly pointing out the Republican backlash on social media.