Biden Campaign Joins TikTok

Improve the News Foundation -

Facts

  • US President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection campaign has begun using the social media app TikTok, with campaign staff operating the account as they do with other social media apps.1
  • The account, which currently has over 45K followers, posted its first video during the Super Bowl on Sunday. The 26-second clip, which held the caption 'lol hey guys' and showed Biden answering questions about the game, has been viewed over 4M times.2
  • This decision follows the Biden administration's 2022 ban on the app on all federal devices, as well as similar bans in several states. The government bans were due to security concerns regarding TikTok's China-based parent company ByteDance.3
  • Previously, the Democratic president's campaign has attempted to reach younger voters by teaming up with TikTok influencers to advocate for his re-election run. The Democratic National Committee has also started using the app.4
  • Although Biden and the Democratic Party have done well with younger voters in elections while abstaining from TikTok, a survey last year showed that 20% of Gen Z Americans receive their political news from the platform.1

Sources: 1NBC, 2wsj.com, 3BBC News and 4FOX News.

Narratives

  • Democratic narrative, as provided by Washington Post. The Biden campaign is going where it can reach the young voters it needs to reelect the president. TikTok has previously proven informative for young voters on the Ukraine war and COVID, so as long as the social media accounts are protected from hackers, this is a great idea.
  • Republican narrative, as provided by Blaze Media. In a desperate attempt to make up ground on former Pres. Trump in the election, the president has decided to violate the ban on a Chinese spy app to reach young voters. If the security risk wasn't bad enough, he looked older than his advanced age in his kickoff video. This move is so problematic for this lame-duck administration.

Predictions