Getting Political As F@#k
The Rise of TikTok Politics in 2020
With the US election having just taken place (the first in the TikTok era) and with so much Geopolitics surrounding the App over the past 6 months, it seemed prescient to explore how politics was playing out on the platform. As a result, I spent time hanging out within a number of TikTok political hashtag communities to see how young people were behaving and communicating in the lead up to the election.
Before we dive fully into this however, let’s put the app into a small bit of context.
TikTok is a viral video sharing platform powered by short-form mobile video content. The app sees itself as a new type of TV entertainment rather than traditional social media. It’s a different form of communication consequently built around social entertainment that’s powered by user-generated micro content.
This means it’s no longer about building up friend networks and life-logging experiences at 5 star hotels, festivals and beaches. Instead it’s a performative space where creativity, low-fi production, entrepreneurial characteristics, meme culture and a powerful recommender algorithm come together to create highly addictive viral micro entertainment.
Getting Political as F@#k
Back in 2019 TikTok decided to ban any form of paid political advertising, saying it did not fit with the app’s culture. Despite this it was easy to see that political engagement is extremely high on the app. At the time of writing there are over 4.5 billion views coalescing around #politics.
So there is evidently more to the app than just silly lip-syncing videos and trending dance challenges.
I guess this shouldn’t be surprising given the large number of users consisting of Gen Z and young Millennials.
In 2020 the app has given rise to a new wave of political action. But like so many other characteristics that define this generation, politics is being consumed and shared on their terms. It has provided agency to young people who’ve often felt politically disenfranchised and ignored in society.
So TikTok is now a political force, which can be felt not just in the digital world, but in the real world too.
There is even a name for it.
Welcome to the age of #tiktokpolitics.
I used a digital ethnographic research approach to gather my data from the content and conversations shared around 6 hashtags: #uspolitics #election2020 #MAGA #biden2020 #trump2020 #tiktokpolitics.
After coding up the data four themes emerged offering insights into how young people and politics were mixing on TikTok.
Theme 1: Digital Activism
During my research, it was evident that activism has risen to prominence on the platform in 2020. Young people are fighting for causes and values that they believe in, much like they did during the counterculture movement in the 1960s. This time round they’re turning to TikTok for political action.
A good example was from back in June. Here young people — some not even old enough to vote — used the app as a political weapon to fight for racial justice, impacting Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Outraged by the insensitivity of Trump to both host the event on Juneteenth and to pick the location of one the biggest race massacres in the 20th century, youth activist took to TikTok to mobilise users to sabotage the rally.
How did they do it?
It was a simple yet brilliant idea. They asked fellow TikTokers to register for tickets even though they were never going to attend the event. This contributed to the 19,000+ venue being half empty, infuriating Trump and his campaign team.
Key to this was the BTS fan community getting involved. These K-Pop superfans have since gone on to become an activist army. Most recently hijacking QAnon and MAGA (Make America Great Again) hashtags to counter their rhetoric.
Consequently, digital activism can be powerful on TikTok. It enables high numbers of like-minded people to mobilise themselves quickly in order to effect things in the real world. But this is not unique. We have previously seen activism on Facebook and through Messaging Apps. However, the viral nature of the app and the way the algorithm behaves, as well as the content’s tone, style and narrative, means activism plays out very differently on TikTok.
Theme 2: Discourse
For the most part, the political content shared on the app sticks to the norms of communication. In other words, posts tend to use humour, comedy and sarcasm built around narratives and storytelling that communicated approval and disapproval for either Joe Biden or Donald Trump.
This is an important behavioural aspect of TikTok, because it highlights the fact that there is an expectation to be entertained when viewing any content on the app, even (or even especially) with political content.
Comedic value is consequently a key driver of what goes viral. So when political messaging gets wrapped up within a comedy sketch, parody, trope, or vignette by a Creator using low-fi production, it hits home much more — being viewed by TikTokers as both entertaining and authentic.
So political satire is thriving on TikTok.
In fact, forget Saturday Night Live or Stephen Colbert, TikTok has been a space where some of the most creative and incisive political comedy as been taking place in the run up to and over the election.
However, key to how it’s being produced and consumed by younger audiences is through the Meme culture that exists on the app. Imitation is central to how political content is created and shared, as is the visual storytelling devices such as remixing, mash-ups and collage to convey meaning and achieve virality.
The conversations taking place within the comment sections of TikToks also showed huge engagement — with popular posts reaching millions and getting thousands of comments. Whether the content shared was intended to support Trump or Biden, there was interaction by both camps. The comments make use of informal language and emojis, displaying a funny or mocking tone alongside more confrontational debates around political ideology and race.
Consequently, as the next two themes discuss, negative issues relating to polarisation and the spread of mis- and disinformation were also prevalent.
Theme 3: Polarisation
Divisive politics has become a growing problem in democracies throughout the world. It has led to a rise in Populism and a shift away from centre-ground politics. It has also coincided with both the rise of social media and the coming age of Gen Z.
These ideological divisions are also found on TikTok through the various political hashtags, but especially through political hype houses. These are political communities of influential Creators who make and send out content in favour of their political views. On both the Democrat and Republican sides I documented content being produced and curated indirectly through these accounts that aimed to influence the hearts and minds of young voters.
Something I found particularly interesting related to Trump supporters.
In light of the climate change and Black Lives Matter movements, many young people have been openly sharing their more liberal worldview. However, for Trump supporters, displaying political preferences can often lend itself to public shaming. So hype houses have become a digital space where they can come together with fellow young Republicans and feel confident to speak about and share their political beliefs.
The positive aspect of hype houses is that they have been very effective at getting huge numbers of young people passionately engaged with politics on TikTok. Yet, they may also become deeply problematic by continuing to intrench devise politics, as well as being a key channel for spreading mis- and disinformation.
Theme 4: Mis- and Disinformation
Mis- and disinformation is a cultural phenomenon, highlighted by the UN declaring that we are currently living through an infodemic. A shared sense of reality and consensus of what is “true” has never been more bitterly divided.
In September this year TikTok reacted by introducing an in-app guide to try and counter the spread of mis- and disinformation across it’s platform through election-related and political hashtags. Despite this, I found many examples of content being shared that were misleading or factually baseless.
In particular, information around mail-in ballets in the run up to the election, as well as voter fraud during the election itself, has been particularly rampant. That Trump has been at the forefront of spreading misleading facts, conspiracy theories and unproven allocations has obviously not helped.
Another unexpected way misinformation spreads on TikTok is through certain content getting hijacked, where the message shifts away from its original meaning. A recent TikTok video for instance showed an election worker bragging about destroying Trump ballets whilst ripping up a ballet for extra effect. This quickly went viral in support of the supposed widespread electoral fraud taking place. The video however was subsequently debunked, showing it was completely made up by the TikTok Creator, who did the video just for fun. It was not made with intent to spread disinformation, but was nonetheless jumped on and shared.
One explanation for this is that with so much information constantly being shared on TikTok, and at such a rapid pace, its incredibly hard for young people on the app to both identify and have the time to factcheck things. There is also an element of confirmation bias influencing behaviour.
But probably most importantly, given the self-made nature of the content by their fellow peers, this can provide the markers of authenticity and credibility to young people on TikTok. When you add in the gradual erosion of trust and cynicism in institutions and experts within youth culture, this mix can easily lend itself into believing mis- and disinformation and falling into conspiratorial thinking traps.
Again this is obviously not unique to TikTok. All the other leading social media companies are facing the same problem and under more pressure to tackle the spread of mis- and disinformation. TikTok however needs to step up much more, especially considering the large numbers of young people now getting their news and information from the app everyday.
Concluding Thoughts…
TikTok is built around self-expression exhibited through the DIY content that is shared, so its become a vehicle for Gen Z to voice their political views as well.
As a result, even though TikTok’s official position is that it does not want to be political, it has nevertheless become an arena for political campaigning, government messaging and election information. When this is combined with ordinary Creators using the app to communicate and share experiences peer-to-peer, and the democratising nature of what can go viral, TikTok has become a powerful medium to influence young voters; and there is little doubt that it had an effect on turnout and voter decision-making in the 2020 election.
This is highlighted by the record youth turnout this year, projected by the Guardian to be 17% of total vote share — up 10% from four years ago. This would have had a positive impact for Trump (Let’s not forgot that he received the 2nd highest vote in US history), but was particularly crucial for Joe Biden, who is estimated to have the support of 65% of people aged 18–29. Therefore, his team’s strategic focus on encouraging content and messaging to stress the importance of registering to vote, appears to have been incredibly effective in motivating young people to get out and vote.
So what might the TikTok election tell us about politics over the next four years?
An important insight from Donald Trump’s election win back 2016 is that it symbolised a shift in politics and how political information is consumed — one that is driven by narrative and story more akin to entertainment. It also signified the importance of social media on news consumption behaviour.
Given TikTok’s success in 2020 and the high levels of political engagement on the app, I expect this new medium of social micro entertainment to continue to grow in both cultural and political importance. I have no doubt this will mean more politicians will start to have accounts. But more crucial is that both the Creators and hype houses will continue to become key gatekeepers to power.
The challenge now facing #tiktokpolitics, like all social platforms, is making the app a healthier political space for its users to get information that’s much better at countering the spread on mis- and disinformation in real time.
