While the social media sensation TikTok was originally for dancing videos, sketches, food reviews, and vlogs, it has recently been a political education tool. Politicians have been popping up all over the For You Pages (FYP) of one billion active TikTok users. However, it is unclear whether or not Tik Tok is an effective and safe way for politicians to communicate and interact with voters.
Different politicians actively running for government choose to use the social media platform differently. Some choose to post simple campaign videos, while others decide to make opposition videos against their opponent. The most popular videos are of candidates encouraging the sole age demographic of the app, Generation Z, to go out and vote if they are eligible.
Many Myers Park students may have seen the user @jeffjacksonnc appear on their FYP. With around 330,900 followers, North Carolina congressman Jeff Jackson has taken on Tik Tok. Jackson is a Democratic politician, lawyer, and Major in the NC Army National Guard. From 2014-2022, he represented the 37th NC district in the state senate. As of 2023, Jackson serves as the US representative for North Carolina’s 14th Congressional district.
Politicians have struggled to get younger generations to vote for decades. However, Congressmen Jackson has not only taken an approach to encourage young voters to head out to the polls but has also provided informative videos on how campaigns and elections work. As Jackson was campaigning for the November 2022 midterm elections, his videos aimed to show complete transparency on his policies and the process of being elected to Congress. He has posted videos on policies and issues that are essential issues in the eyes of younger generations, including LGBTQ and reproductive rights, gun reform, affordable health care, the legalization of marijuana, gerrymandering, and the raising of minimum wage. If North Carolinians want to learn about their 14th congressional district congressman, TikTok is a legitimate educational resource.
Even though Jeff Jackson won the midterm election, he continued to post videos informing viewers on what goes behind being sworn into Congress and a member of Congress. Jackson has used TikTok to educate users on the procedures a congressman has to undergo between the time they are elected and the time they are sworn in. He has committed to documenting his time in Congress on the app.
In a video posted on December 12, 2022, Jackson said, “Going forward, I want to give you something we don’t see too often, which is a real-time, first-person account of being a freshman member of Congress. I think sharing that perspective is important because transparency is important, but I also just think you’ll find it interesting, so that’s what you can find here”.
According to the Alliance for Securing Democracy at GMC, as of 2022, 227 accounts have been made and used by major party candidates in the Senate, House, governor, and secretary of state races. However, researchers Lindsay Gorman and Nash Miller bring up national security. Technology can be dangerous as it can spread deep fakes and false information. A deep fake is a video of a person whose face or body has been altered to appear as a different person, such as political candidates. Global Witness and New York University performed an experiment that found that TikTok overlooked 90 percent of political ads submitted to the platform that featured false or misleading election claims. TikTok has promised to prevent political misinformation from spreading, although that appears to be a near-impossible task.
The question still stands: Is TikTok an effective way for political candidates to get younger generations to vote for them at the polls? Is it enough for TikTok to post disclaimers warning users to be weary of political information posted on the app? Is it sufficient for TikTok to verify politicians who create accounts? In the age of technology, information online has to be taken with a grain of salt. Social media can be both a handy tool and a dangerous weapon.