Behind the Great Firewall, the Chinese version of TikTok is worlds apart in terms of political content
- Short video app TikTok could loom large in the US 2020 election, with hashtags related to presidential candidates trending on the platform
- On Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, political content from users is virtually non-existent while government agencies upload thousands of videos
Videos of teenagers dancing to Panic! at the Disco’s High Hopes, the campaign walk-on song for US presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, are going viral on TikTok.
The fact that Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend in Indiana, does not have a verified account on the short video platform is not an apparent barrier to his popularity there – content tagged with the #mayorpete hashtag had gathered almost 672,000 views as of Friday.
TikTok is known for its goofy lip-synch and dance videos rather than serious political content. One video, for example, features carefully edited clips of US President Donald Trump’s speeches spliced together so he appears to be singing along to the song Señorita by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello.
Unlike Twitter, where Trump and many presidential candidates have verified accounts and often directly promote their campaigns, most of the political content on TikTok is generated by young supporters.
Still, it could loom large in the US 2020 election.
Videos with the hashtag #trump2020 dominate the platform with 271 million views as of Friday, far overtaking the #politics hashtag which has 166 million views. Other trending hashtags related to US presidential candidates as of Friday included #joebiden for former vice-president Joe Biden, with 3.5 million views, and #warren2020 for Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, with 2.8 million views.
