TikTok became a critical battleground during the 2024 US presidential election, with both major political parties and candidates turning to the platform to engage, target, and appeal to younger voters.
THE TIKTOK ELECTION
TikTok is incredibly popular with the younger generation, as the majority of US adults aged 30 or below (62 percent) use the social media app according to non-partisan fact tank, the Pew Research Center.
As well as young adults, the majority of US teenagers (63 percent) use TikTok, with more than half (58 percent) on the app daily.
Thus, TikTok not only allows political parties and candidates to appeal to young people on the site that are already eligible to vote, but also those who are not yet old enough, potentially earning their support for future presidential elections in the years to come.
Interestingly, more Americans – especially young adults – are also regularly getting news on TikTok, whose short-form videos allow information and opinions about current affairs such as the presidential election to be quickly received and easily digested compared to long-form content such as written news articles and columns.
The TikTok algorithm, which feeds an addictive stream of these videos to users, positions campaigns in front of new audiences and increases engagement from people otherwise not searching for political content as they scroll through the app. Content presented to users is determined by this algorithm based on data about how they engaged with previous material.
Between the viral dance crazes, useful baking and cleaning tips, funny memes, and more that frequently populate people’s feeds, snappy and effective political videos will therefore play an active role in determining the future of the country.
ELECTION INTEGRITY
Kamala Harris recently joined TikTok in July and within three months has amassed 6.4 million followers and 74.5 million likes on her personal account, complementing the official campaign page, Kamala HQ.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, created his personal TikTok account a month earlier in June but has acquired almost twice as many followers – 12.6 million – as well as 81.4 million likes.
Nevertheless, these impressive figures demonstrate the reach, popularity, and influence of both the Democratic and Republican nominees as they ramped up their TikTok presence to compete for and connect with young voters on the platform, which has taken extensive measures to preserve the integrity of elections as important moments of community conversation.
With more than two billion people in over 50 countries expected to have gone to the polls by the end of this year, TikTok is deeply dedicated to protecting the integrity of elections on the social media app.
The platform expects to invest more than $2 billion in trust and safety this year, including continued investment in election integrity and its US operations.
Focused on enabling free expression while maintaining a safe and civil environment for the 170 million+ US users, TikTok’s multifaceted approach to protecting election integrity will continue all the way through to the presidential inauguration in January 2025.
Firstly, it prevents the spread of harmful or divisive content by prohibiting and removing any misinformation, violent or hateful conduct, and any other posts that violate its policies.
Unverified election claims, meanwhile, are labeled and ineligible for recommendation, with users prompted to reconsider before sharing them. TikTok also doesn’t allow paid political advertising as it isn’t conducive to the authentic, inclusive environment it strives to create.
Through and beyond election day, TikTok’s US elections taskforce will continue working to enforce its policies with the support of technology, specialized misinformation moderators, and fact-checking partners who assess the accuracy of content in real time.
Connecting people to authoritative information and reliable facts is another facet of TikTok’s approach, which also includes combating deceptive behavior, defending platform integrity, and preparing for rapidly unfolding events.
LOOMING BAN
TikTok’s rising impact as an effective political campaigning platform and tool to connect directly with younger voters, as demonstrated in the 2024 US presidential election, comes against the backdrop of a looming nationwide ban unless it is sold by Chinese developer and parent company, ByteDance.
There have been concerns about its approach to the data privacy of its US users and potential impact on national security if this data is shared with the Chinese government, grounds on which Trump himself attempted to ban TikTok when he was previously in the White House despite since joining the app this year.
President Joe Biden signed a bill in April paving the way for the forced sale of TikTok following approval from Congress.
However, a ban would be unconstitutional and have a staggering impact on the free speech of its US users based on indeterminate risks, according to the site.
It would also arguably have an impact on democracy if such an increasingly important platform for accessing news and information about political parties, candidates, campaigns, and elections was to be banned in the US.
