TikTok Music launched Wednesday in Australia, Singapore and Mexico to a small group of users.
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When Joe Biden joined TikTok on the eve of the Super Bowl last month, political scientist Maggie Macdonald was struck by what she called the “meta” nature of the president’s first assignment.
In the video, Biden teased a conspiracy theory that he rigged the Super Bowl — in favor of the Kansas City Chiefs — to somehow help his reelection efforts.
“Yes, I’m old, but I’m on TikTok and I’m in this super online place talking about this concept of super online,” Macdonald, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Kentucky, said of the messaging and tone of Biden’s video .
While Biden’s debut on the wildly popular social media app was done in a playful way, his use of TikTok in this year’s reelection campaign is at the center of a heated debate in Washington, D.C., over whether the service should exist in the United States. , owned by China’s ByteDance, is seen both as an invaluable tool for trying to reach masses of young potential voters disconnected from the mainstream media and as an easy way, presumably, for the Chinese government to spy on American consumers.
Members of the Chinese Communist Party’s House Select Committee introduced a bill this week that would require ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a ban from the United States, following previous efforts led by the state and federal government that did not were never made. The committee voted 50-0 on Thursday to send the bill to the House.
Shortly after the committee advanced the bill, Rep. Troy Balderson, R-Ohio, called TikTok “a surveillance tool used by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on Americans and collect highly personal data.”
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew denied in Senate hearings any links between the app and the CCP. In a statement to CNBC on Thursday, TikTok said, “The government is attempting to deprive 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free expression,” an act that will “harm millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy media livelihood of countless creators across the country.”
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online child sexual exploitation, at the US Capitol, in Washington, USA, on January 31, 2024.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
Since Biden’s playful introductory post, his campaign’s TikTok account has gained more than 222,000 followers and more than 2.4 million likes. With eight months until the general election and a likely rematch of the 2020 election, Biden narrowly trails Republican challenger Donald Trump in most national polls in what is expected to be a close battle to the end.
Biden’s age has proven to be a persistent concern in polling data, so experts say reaching younger audiences is critical to trying to win over young undecided voters and mobilize a traditional Democratic constituency whose members sometimes hang around home on election day.
“It’s really important for him to be present and interact directly with voters, not just through creators and influencers,” said Aaron Earls, CEO of social media influencer firm Activate HQ, which specializes in political campaigns. “The turnout in 2020 was really significant with that younger audience and everyone suggests that perhaps there will be a similar turnout with the younger audience again.”
During Thursday night’s State of the Union address, Biden’s campaign posted clips of the speech on TikTok, a sign that the president plans to stick with the app despite swirling concerns in Washington. But it’s a particularly convoluted issue for Biden because, if the bill were to pass the House and Senate, it would hit the president’s desk.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday that “this bill is important, we welcome this step.” She said the administration intends to “meet the American people where they are,” adding that “that doesn’t mean we won’t try to figure out how to protect our national security.”
Biden said Friday he would sign the bill if Congress approves it.
Biden’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
TikTok is trying to gain support from users following the House’s action on Thursday. On the app, users were greeted with a screenshot warning them that Congress was “planning a total ban on TikTok.” Several staffers and lawmakers told CNBC their offices were inundated with calls, mostly from children.
TikTok goes to Washington
US political campaigns more generally are trying to figure out how to best use TikTok.
Over the past few cycles, Facebook has been the go-to social media app for campaigns due to its ability to narrowly target users fundraising announcements and informational posts. However, Apples The 2021 iOS privacy update made it much more difficult to target the public, increasing the cost of advertising campaigns Meta’s platforms.
Additionally, Facebook has aged over the years, with younger groups gravitating to TikTok. The challenge for campaigns is that TikTok says it doesn’t allow political ads or “content such as a video of a politician asking for donations or a political party directing people to a donation page on their website.”
To date, major campaigns have relied on high-profile TikTok influencers to garner support for specific issues. Last April, for example, the White House said it was enlisting a team of volunteer TikTok and Instagram influencers to help spread awareness of the Biden campaign.
Earls says it’s a strategy that has long been used in politics. TikTok simply presents a new medium.
“This has historically been a tactic used since Kennedy, but just more so in mainstream media,” Earls said. “Like I have the approval of Marilyn Monroe or Joe DiMaggio or whatever.”
Political groups are scouring TikTok for influencers with positions that resonate with would-be voters and are targeting some swing states that could be key in deciding an election. During the 2022 midterm elections, the Democratic National Committee and media groups like Climate Power enlisted the help of TikTok and influencers to discuss issues like abortion rights and mobilize voters.
Despite its growing popularity, TikTok remains a niche tool in politics.
Anupam Chander, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, published a study last year with colleagues showing that less than 10% of members of the United States Congress have a “TikTok account from which they post content”, most likely due of the app’s connection to China. In total, the report said, 34 House members and seven senators had official TikTok accounts.
Among major politicians using TikTok, the vast majority are Democrats, the study showed. Part of the resistance from Republicans may be tied to Trump’s ultimately unsuccessful promise to ban TikTok during his administration.
Reaching “Young Americans Where They Are”
One of the few high-profile Republicans now on the app is former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who he said during a primary debate that “part of the way we win elections is reaching the next generation of young Americans where they are.”
As for whether Trump will use TikTok in his campaign, Earls said he wouldn’t be surprised to see it. The decision, he said, probably has less to do with China and more to do with Trump’s connection to his social media platform, Truth Social, where he posts frequently.
“We saw him do whatever it took to win an election, including trying to stop the peaceful transition of power,” Earls said. “He’ll do what he thinks will help him win, so I suspect we’ll see his campaign join TikTok in the coming months, depending on how things develop with his ability to monetize Truth Social.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Anish Mohanty, communications director at Gen-Z for Change, said his nonprofit advocacy group was originally called TikTok for Biden when it formed in 2020 as part of an effort “to defeat Donald Trump.” The group changed its name the following year and now leverages its network of hundreds of TikTok social media influencers to advocate for multiple progressive issues related to climate change, universal healthcare and to call on Biden for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza .
Given the many challenges Biden faces with younger groups, his mere presence on TikTok isn’t enough to win votes, Mohanty said, particularly if the president’s campaign is “just using it to post embarrassing memes about Trump.” .
“Young people care about the issues, that’s why they’re so unhappy with Biden over the action on climate change and the situation in Gaza,” Mohanty said. “Just because Biden posts on TikTok, that’s not what’s going to attract young people.”
However, Macdonald sees a big opportunity for Biden.
“If you want to reach young people who are very apathetic, use TikTok,” the University of Kentucky professor said. “You have an incentive to reach them on TikTok, and it appears the Republican Party as a unit is simply not doing that.”
CLOCK: Denying a platform does not mean denying free speech.
