Gen Z is losing its political voice on social media
President Joe Biden signed the bill this week that could ban TikTok from the U.S. if its parent company ByteDance doesnāt sell the platform. According to young political content creators, the ban could decimate Gen Zās access to political news and information.
āAn unfortunately large amount of 18- to 24-year-olds find out information about local elections from TikTok, so my heart is breaking,ā Emma Mont, a political content creator, told TechCrunch. According to the Pew Research Center, about a third of American adults between ages 18 and 29 regularly get their news from TikTok.
āI think itās going to have an impact not only on the people who provide information, but also the people who receive that information,ā Mont said. āPart of the reason I make the content I do is that I know thereās someone whoās watching and this is the first time theyāre ever gonna learn about Roe v. Wade, or whatever Iām talking about.ā
For most content creators, the transition away from TikTok is difficult, but not insurmountable ā many full-time creators already cultivate multi-platform followings, rather than depending on one platform, in preparation for this exact kind of worst-case scenario (remember Vine?).
Instagram Reels is a clear alternative to TikTok, but for political creators, itās not a real option. As of March, Instagram is filtering out political content from users that you donāt already follow. That means that itās basically impossible for political creators and activists to reach a wider audience.
āI think itās ridiculous,ā said Pratika Katiyar, a Northeastern University student and research assistant at Harvardās Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. āThereās no need for Instagram to limit political content. Thatās just driving users away from their platforms.ā
Even before Instagramās recent policy update, users alleged that their posts about the war in Gaza were being suppressed. Meta communications director Andy Stone chalked up these complaints to a ābugā that had ānothing to do with the subject matterā of the posts.
āI post a lot on my [Instagram] story about politics and the work Iām doing, and itās becoming really, really hard,ā Katiyar told TechCrunch. āThereās no way to get visibility anymore on Instagram, and now with the limiting of political content, I just fear thatās being compounded.ā
These gripes have been so prevalent among creators that Instagram head Adam Mosseri addressed the issue on Threads.
āBefore some of you say āthe algorithmā is the culprit, understand that ranking and recommendations *increase* the amount of posts people get to,ā Mosseri wrote.
Lawmakers are adamant that this bill isnāt a ban. Rather, they say itās forced divestiture of TikTok from its Chinese parent company. But ByteDance could have a hard time finding an American company that can afford to buy TikTok without raising antitrust concerns. Even if it does find a buyer, the Chinese government has the power to block a forced sale anyway.
All the while, President Bidenās reelection campaign is posting multiple TikToks per day, accumulating over 300,000 followers since creating the account in February.
āIām even more surprised that Biden signed it into law,ā TikTok creator Annie Silkaitis told TechCrunch. āI think itās going to be such a hot topic this year, his campaign being on the app while heās actively trying to ban it or force them to sell it. It just feels very hypocritical.ā
An obstacle for Bidenās campaign
Bidenās decision to set up shop on TikTok makes sense: Itās a platform where more than 170 million Americans spend their time. This is especially true of younger voters, who are part of a key voting bloc with a historically low turnout. But Bidenās presence on the app, which heās helping to ban, rubs users the wrong way.
āBeing on TikTok is a brilliant campaign move, but I do think itās a bit of a shot in the foot to take it away,ā Mont said. āHow do you come to terms with these two true things, that youāre banning TikTok and your campaign has had a lot of traction on TikTok?ā
In any case, if TikTok does get banned, it wonāt get removed from app stores until solidly after Election Day. Per the version of the bill that Biden signed, ByteDance has nine months to divest TikTok, with a 90-day possible extension. Plus, TikTok is expected to mount a substantial legal challenge against the legislation.
Bidenās stance on TikTok may still impact him in November, though.
āWith TikTok being banned, that was one of the biggest news sources for Gen Z. It was a place where people felt like their voices were heard. And now thatās being taken away,ā Katiyar said. āI think thatās concerning for how the election is going to turn out. And I do think people will hesitate to vote nowā¦ We feel like no one is really listening to our concerns right now.ā
Voter turnout in the 18- to 29-year-old bloc is already expected to be lower in 2024 than 2020, a Harvard Youth Poll shows.
Not only does this move hurt Bidenās chance at securing the youth vote, but heās also failing to capitalize on the power of the internet. Though the Biden campaign has been meeting with creators, the presidentās organic reach could be limited if online activists feel complacent about his run.
Online momentum can shape an election. During the 2020 election cycle, for example, teens across the U.S. organized online for Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), dubbing themselves the āMarkeyverse.ā Most of them werenāt even eligible to vote in the Massachusetts Senate race, whether due to their age or residence, but supported the senator for his stance on curbing climate change. This network of Markey fan accounts helped propel the incumbent to victory over a formidable challenger, Representative Joe Kennedy III.
āEngaging young people online in a way that speaks to them gets them excited about political races that they might otherwise have not had any kind of stake in,ā Mont said.
But TikTok users are unlikely to rally behind Biden in any way thatās reminiscent of the Markeyverse.
Some creators are frustrated about their lack of context for the TikTok ban. While the Senate has been party to closed-door briefings about TikTokās threat to national security, very little information has been made apparent in public hearings. Those hearings have only served to show how little our legislators understand about the internet ā last year, Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) asked TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew if TikTok accesses Wi-Fi.
āIf President Biden went out today and said China is intentionally putting X-Y-Z on your TikTok feed, Iād be like, āOkay, thank you for telling me, thatās all I needed.ā But itās all very like, āOh, we donāt understand the algorithm.ā Well, we donāt understand a lot of algorithms!ā Mont said. āMy biggest gripe about all of this as a political content creator is like, how much data do Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have access to?ā
Creators likely wonāt be getting any answers soon. For now, theyāre locked in limbo.
āItās something that Iām gonna probably be talking about every day until anything happens, which likely wonāt be for another year or two, which is scary to think,ā said Silkaitis. āHow drawn out is this going to be?ā