Banning TikTok Could Turn Gen ZInto aPolitical Force
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pOne hundred fifty million Americans use TikTok, anbsp;fact both the app’s critics and defenders repeated last Thursday at anbsp;congressional hearing with TikTok CEO Shou Chew. It’s anbsp;number that includes two‐thirds of Generation Z, making the hearing anbsp;rude introduction to the dysfunction of government for the next generation of voters./p
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pIn fact, older policymakers and journalists are deeply siloed — consuming news from legacy outlets and chattering with each other on Twitter — and many are missing the immense anger of TikTokers at the talk of anbsp;ban. (As both anbsp;media historian at anbsp;think tank and anbsp;middling TikTok a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@pmatzko?lang=encreator/a, Inbsp;have anbsp;unique position from which to translate the visceral reaction of many TikTokers to what they witnessed from Congress.)/p
pTikTok has not traditionally been as political anbsp;space as other social media platforms like Twitter. And while it is not yet clear whether the post‐hearings outrage felt on TikTok will be channeled into political action, it is possible that anbsp;TikTok ban could turn into anbsp;radicalizing event for Gen Znbsp;like how the free speech protests at Berkeley energized young people in the 1960s./p
pWhile congresspeople and pundits might write TikTok off as merely as anbsp;place for a href=https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/yes-of-course-we-should-ban-tiktok“cute dance videos”/a or anbsp;conduit for Chinese a href=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/10/marco-rubio-ban-tiktok-america-china-mike-gallagher/indoctrination/a, any actual user of TikTok could have told the House Energy amp;nbsp;Commerce Committee — not that they bothered to ask — that the platform contains multitudes./p
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pOur first TikTok president might already be on the platform, waiting for their moment to channel the anger of Gen Znbsp;voters who are alienated by the business‐as‐usual congressional antics displayed last week./p
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pYes, there are viral dance trends and silly memes making light of a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@nagasakibiopark/video/7199903952983330050?lang=enamp;q=capybara%20tokamp;t=1679849787341capybaras/a and a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@mangonlemon/video/7186292853155302662?lang=enamp;q=do%20it%20for%20me%20kermieamp;t=1679849817916borzois/a, but TikTok is the same platform that allows an ex‐Amish creator with 1.4 million followers to draw attention to his rescue mission helping abused Amish teenagers, helps queer teenagers in conservative towns to a href=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/01/28/tiktok-has-become-soul-lgbtq-internet/find/a community, and opened the door for anbsp;local a href=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/tiktok-news-source-train-derailment-ohio-1234681310/engineer/a to draw national a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@nickdrom/video/7197262870793473322?lang=enattention/a to the Ohio train derailment./p
pSo while Congress might think it is merely banning anbsp;fungible “Big Tech” platform, TikTok users know that doing so will tear apart their vibrant, ad hoc online communities. The comments sections of post‐hearing videos are filled with a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@hashtagjrupp/video/7214183269372333354?lang=enpleas/a like, “Someone show this to congress as proof they shouldn’t ban TikTok.”/p
pThe hearing made it obvious to users that Congress does not understand what TikTok is, how the technology works, and how most people experience it. The most frequently ridiculed members have been Rep. Greg Pence (R‑Ind.) for a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@pogsyy/video/7213941035444096298growling/a “pay me for my data,” Rep. Richard Hudson (R‑N.C.) for a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@someguymark/video/7214189154886765829wondering/a if TikTok connects to WiFi, and especially Rep. a href=https://thehill.com/people/buddy-carter/Buddy Carter /a(R‑Ga.), who found 21 million viewers watching him a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@_whittington/video/7213775361979452718ask/a about “pupil tracking” and “age‐gating.”/p
pMany TikTokers felt the hearing was deceptive. Instead of sharing anbsp;representative sample of TikTok videos during the hearing, the representatives showed only extreme, fringe content in the style of “a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@_itsnate/video/7213847203759099179Look/a at this poorly crafted mee‐mee [meme] we found with ten likes,” designed to put TikTok in an unrealistically bad light. Congress offered up anbsp;paper‐thin caricature of the platform that users know and love./p
pAnd while Congress might find the theoretical potential of data gathering and surveillance by the Communist Chinese Party reason enough to call for anbsp;TikTok ban, users are much less concerned. Anbsp;common refrain is that TikTok doesn’t collect any information that any other major social media platform doesn’t also collect; at least TikTok never a href=https://www.reuters.com/legal/facebook-parent-meta-pay-725-mln-settle-lawsuit-relating-cambridge-analytica-2022-12-23/sold/a their data to brokers and wannabe authoritarian strongmen. And the (unproven) proposition that China is spying on users doesn’t faze those who, as one user a href=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64827885put it/a, don’t feel “important enough as anbsp;college student with eight cents to my name” to provide any valuable intel./p
pIt’s not China that worries TikTokers, who have settled on anbsp;particular shadowy villain to blame for the whole affair: Facebook. Given that the TikTok competitor stands to benefit from anbsp;ban, fingers have been a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@nickdrom/video/7213924662865153326pointed/a at recent purchases of Meta stock by members of the hearing committee, and which has appreciated significantly over the last six months./p
pThus, what TikTokers saw at the hearing has a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@socialbybri/video/7213813475674459434?lang=enconvinced/a many that it could only have been the product of “every single one of those politicians [being] bought and paid for,” hashtag “#usgovernmentsucks.”/p
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pWhile this may be an overstatement, there is anbsp;kernel of truth to these complaints of undue influence from TikTok’s competitors. In 2021, Meta a href=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/30/facebook-tiktok-targeted-victory/hired/a anbsp;Republican consulting megafirm called Targeted Victory to both launder anti‐TikTok talking points through sympathetic journalists and to plant fake grassroots stories in hundreds of local newspapers. The goal was to incite anbsp;nationwide moral panic among parents of teens using TikTok. As one operative put it, the “dream would be to get stories with headlines like ‘From dances to danger: how TikTok has become the most harmful social media space for kids.’”/p
pFuture researchers will get the opportunity to trace any direct influence between TikTok’s competitors and members of Congress; after all, you don’t a href=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-01/amazon-apple-microsoft-report-record-lobbying-spending-in-2022spend/a $70 million anbsp;year on lobbyists for nothing. But when multiple congresspeople at the hearing highlighted dangerous TikTok trends for teenagers — for instance, Rep. Buddy Carter sat in front of anbsp;banner reading “Deadly TikTok Challenges” — they were repeating anbsp;line of criticism popularized by TikTok’s biggest competitor. TikTok creators are not entirely wrong to be a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@iamfiona2pt0/video/7210913165142641966suspicious/a that the ban “has nothing to do with our safety, and everything to do with Meta can’t beat ‘em, so let’s destroy ‘em.”/p
pBut perhaps the most serious sin of the hearings for users of anbsp;platform defined by authenticity — typically featuring anbsp;direct‐to‐camera conversational tone and low‐fi production values — is that the congresspersons were performing an obviously inauthentic outrage for anbsp;completely different audience. Nearly half of Americans might use TikTok, but the half that doesn’t both votes and donates to politicians at much higher a href=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/22/tiktok-china-national-security-congress/rates/a than the half that does./p
pIt rang hollow when committee members claimed to uphold basic American values like freedom of speech, only to, when Chew failed to provide them with the answers they were looking for, repeatedly threaten him with prosecution for lying to Congress. They demeaned themselves at regular five minute intervals with repetitive, pre‐written questions, showed anbsp;complete disinterest in Chew’s answers, a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@farodb_/video/7213954344826309934?_r=1amp;_t=8auey8xLpxDbarked/a “I reclaim the balance of my time,” and then patted themselves on the back for their bipartisanship. And all for what?/p
pAs one creator put it, “There’s my soundbite a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@_itsnate/video/7214221431671082286guys/a, put it on twitter,” or, as the case may be, on anbsp;cable news pundit show or on the local nightly news reel./p
pThe proceedings seemed neither fair nor democratic to TikTok users. “Congress worried China is using TikTok to make the US government look bad,” goes one popular a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@better.call.hall/video/7214075363981331754?lang=enmeme/a using anbsp;scene from anbsp;Nicolas Cage movie, but “the world [is] watching today’s proceedings and seeing that the biggest threat to the US government is the US government.”/p
pThat sentiment is bringing previously apolitical TikTokers off the sidelines, from NASCAR a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@justin_danger_nunley/video/7213931950594182443superfans/a to gym a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@_itsnatebros/a. Anbsp;routine refrain in response videos is some variation on “I don’t normally do anything with political content” — to a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@wellandsepticlife/video/7210467260819918126quote/a anbsp;septic and well contractor with 1.9 million followers — but who, a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@wellandsepticlife/video/7213943547953745195after/a the hearings, wanted “to see anbsp;list of which representatives…are in favor of this tiktok ban because Inbsp;tell ya it’s probably going to affect how Inbsp;vote.”/p
pThere is certainly anbsp;hunger among TikTok users for politicians who both understand the technology and appreciate their values. There are several candidates who might fit the bill as TikTok’s tribune of the people. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D‑N.Y., 183 thousand a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@repbowman?lang=enfollowers/a) was the only congressperson to stand with TikTok creators at anbsp;pre‐hearing press a href=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/tiktok-lands-major-ally-congress-rep-jamaal-bowman-ban-rcna75753conference/a. First term Rep. Jeff Jackson’s (D‑N.C.) plainspoken explanations of politics and policy have earned him 1.4 million a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@jeffjacksonncfollowers/a on TikTok and national media a href=https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-freshman-democratic-congressman-jeff-jackson-got-tiktok-famousattention/a./p
pHowever, Jackson has publicly supported anbsp;TikTok ban, anbsp;stance likely to cap his appeal on the platform, leaving the door open for anbsp;new contender, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio‐Cortez (D‑N.Y.), already known for her facility with Instagram. AOC posted her first a href=https://www.tiktok.com/@aocinthehouse/video/7214318917135830318video/a to TikTok two days after the hearings, criticizing the ban and gaining over anbsp;third of anbsp;million followers in just 24nbsp;hours./p
pThe fact that AOC could post anbsp;video and reach 3.3 million viewers in anbsp;day is anbsp;reminder of the latent political potential of the platform, as is the way it has raised the profile of two democratic socialists (Bowman and AOC) and anbsp;first‐term moderate Democrat (Jackson)./p
pThe path to high office—for whichever politician is bold enough to embrace it—has historically run through novel mass media forms. Franklin Delano Roosevelt turned his “fireside chats” to immense political advantage in the 1930s, Ronald Reagan used his daily radio show in the 1970s to act as anbsp;kind of shadow president, and Donald Trump rode his belligerent Twitter thumbs into the Oval Office in 2016./p
pOur first TikTok president might already be on the platform, waiting for their moment to channel the anger of Gen Znbsp;voters who are alienated by the business‐as‐usual congressional antics displayed last week./p
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