Donald Trump is not on TikTok.
And maybe it doesn’t have to be that way, because his allies and surrogates transform it to his advantage. While the social media platform is still considered a hub for Democratic voices and liberal causes, it has seen a rise in right-wing, pro-Trump influencers since the last presidential election.
The increase comes as president Joe Biden has signed legislation that would force the sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner or have it banned in the US. That law has sparked a backlash among young voters who overwhelmingly supported Biden in 2020, some of whom also opposed his administration’s support for Israel’s war in the United States. Gaza Strip. An internal analysis within TikTok found almost twice as many pro-Trump posts as pro-Biden posts on the platform since November: 1.29 million pro-Trump posts versus 651,000 pro-Biden posts.
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“If we allow the Democrats and the left-wing organizations and left-wing influencers to have a monopoly on the content produced on TikTok, we will lose the next generation of Americans,” said CJ Pearson, a social media influencer with nearly 149,000 followers on TikTok. who co-chairs the Republican National Committee’s Youth Advisory Council.
But TikTok still presents challenges as the former president tries to win back the White House.
On the right, TikTok’s reach remains eclipsed by that of other social media platforms. Although a super political action committee backing Trump joined TikTok this month, it remains unclear whether his unpopularity with young voters, who are on the platform in large numbers, will make it difficult for him to find widespread support. And Republican politicians — including Trump — have largely resisted joining the platform, while many have vocally opposed it.
Trump didn’t just oppose TikTok: He tried to ban it several times as president, citing security concerns over the app’s Chinese ownership, as young people used it to mobilize against him in 2020. Yet TikTok has become part of his policy in the past month. message to young people – that they must support him to protect their access to the platform.
“Young people, remember: Crooked Joe Biden is the one who wants to take your TikTok away from you,” Trump said this month in a video on Truth Social, his social media site. “So if you’re young and smart,” he added, “vote for Donald Trump.”
TikTok has amassed about 170 million U.S. users, the company’s CEO told the Senate Judiciary Committee in January. The Center for Campaign Innovation, a conservative nonprofit, found after the 2022 midterm elections that a growing number of Republicans, especially young and pro-Trump voters, were active on the app — though it still trails Facebook, YouTube and others platforms stood.
Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC promoting Trump’s presidential bid, joined this month as @MAGA. Taylor Budowich, the group’s CEO, said it “would not cede any platform to Joe Biden and the Democrats.”
With about 14,000 followers, the account has shared content from Trump’s rallies as well as videos criticizing Biden and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the independent presidential candidate. It’s had a slow start, with only a few viral videos so far. By comparison, Biden has about 326,000 followers on TikTok and Kennedy has an audience of 1.2 million.
Other, more successful, pro-Trump content on TikTok is varied. “Fan-cam” videos merge footage of Trump’s appearances to music. Conservative influencers comment on topics like immigration and LGBTQ+ rights and support Trump’s comments on the campaign trail. And some users are posting content mocking Biden and other Democrats.
Although Trump has long been active on social media, some allies argue he doesn’t need to use TikTok to spread his message. They point to footage of Trump attending Ultimate Fighting Championship matches and college tailgates that have drawn large viewers to the platform.
“From an organic standpoint, President Trump is beating Biden without ever having to download the app himself,” said Alex Bruesewitz, a Republican digital strategist who backs Trump. “If he gets there, he will obviously crush it, but there are already several content creators making free pro-Trump content for him.”
The Trump campaign has remained noncommittal about whether an account will be created.
But John Brabender, a media consultant for Trump’s campaign who is targeting young voters, said they have thanked supportive influencers and notified them of meetings, calling them the “online reporters of today’s generation.” And he considers Biden’s critics to have the “strongest content” on social media: The president’s recent TikTok posts have been inundated with negative comments visible on the app.
“We have a wide range of pro-Trump, younger advocates spreading the word and sharing content that is being shared widely, so we feel comfortable that we have a significant presence,” Brabender said. “But we are always evaluating how we can increase that presence.”
However, TikTok could still play a role in hurting Trump’s re-election bid. Polls show that while he has made gains among young voters, he remains unpopular with them, many of whom lean left on issues like abortion and gun control. There is a lot of anti-Trump content on the app, including viral videos warning. Trump’s plans for a second term. The Biden campaign has cranked out a steady stream of content criticizing Trump, whom it sees as an inspiring force among voters, including young people who may not remember his presidency.
“We are reaching Gen Z voters online with content tailored to them, created by our own Gen Z employees,” said Parker Butler, director of digital rapid response for the Biden campaign. “Every day, our TikTok account continues to produce sustainable content that engages the media and gets picked up beyond the platform.”
And TikTok is still not a dominant platform on the right. Instead, the app is often used as an editing tool to repackage shorter pieces of right-wing stories and share them on Rumble, X and other platforms, said Cristina López G., senior analyst at Graphika.
Trump-related influencers on TikTok often have a fraction of their audience on Facebook, X or Instagram, even as some conservative stars have gained large followings. The Dilley Meme Team, a group of right-wing content creators who support Trump, does not distribute content on TikTok as often as on X and other platforms, López G. said.
Some conservative influencers complain that their content is often removed on TikTok. TikTok removes content that violates its Community Guidelines, including “misinformation or disinformation that harms individuals, our community, or the broader public.” TikTok also bans paid political content, including restricting users from “receiving payments to create political content.”
Trump’s changed attitude toward TikTok — which came shortly after a brief meeting with Jeff Yass, a Republican megadonor and TikTok investor — has raised broader questions about whether the party’s candidates should be active there, a source of disagreement among GOP consultants.
Because the app’s algorithms are tailored to the user, it’s difficult to say whether the content will reach viewers who aren’t already politically engaged on the right. Emily Wilson, a conservative influencer with nearly 97,000 followers on TikTok, posts videos commenting on pro-Palestinian protests, feminism and other issues, while also supporting Trump. Wilson said her content was often removed and she views the platform as left-leaning, but she saw TikTok as a place for conservatives to expand their reach.
“I don’t think a lot of people vote in the right place, but I think I do,” she said, pointing to what she described as the “real” nature of her videos, often filmed in her car in a conversational manner. show. .
Andrew Mullins, a Republican digital strategist who worked on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign, argued that the platform offered a unique opportunity to connect with millions of voters.
“There are segments where there is no overlap between the TikTok audience and the Facebook and Twitter audiences, so when we talk to TikTok audiences, we’re talking to entirely new people who are hard to reach elsewhere,” he said.
Many Republicans aren’t sold. There are no sitting Republican members of Congress with official accounts on TikTok, compared to many Democratic members. The only Republican presidential candidate there, Vivek Ramaswamy, had previously called it “digital fentanyl” and was attacked by his main Republican Party opponents after he joined in September.
Courtney Hope Britt, the national chair of College Republicans, said that while some college chapters were using TikTok, the national organization had no plans to join due to security concerns about its Chinese ownership.
Amanda Carey Elliott, a digital consultant for the Republican Party, called TikTok a “good bogeyman for us as a party” and said she saw the platform as a better topic than a medium to send messages.
She wondered whether TikTok’s involvement would translate into support, saying, “It’s important to nurture that next generation of conservative activists, but we also need them as voters.”
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