TikTok is full of opinionated creators who are desperate to influence the vote of hundreds of millions of people in the upcoming US election.
And there is reason to believe that TikTok, the short-form social media platform owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, will have an even greater impact on the election than it did four years ago.
In 2020, when Joe Biden and then-incumbent President Donald Trump were running, TikTok had 50 million monthly active users in the United States. That number has since skyrocketed to more than 150 million, representing about 43 percent of the country’s population.
Both candidates have made use of the popular platform in this cycle to try to capture votes.
And with more thumbs scrolling on phone screens than ever, TikTok users are seeing a variety of politically themed content as the race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris tightens in recent days.
This includes a small sect of Taylor Swift fans who have gone against their idol (the pop star endorsed Harris) by altering her lyrics to express support for Trump.
There are also candidate impersonators and people who record themselves dancing to the candidates’ infamous sound bites.
TikTok has become one of the most popular places on the internet to find everyday Americans venting about the state of the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
This Republican Swiftie Named Kayleigh Altered Taylor’s Mega Hit ’22’ to Show Her Support for Trump
User @thedebralea is another prominent Trump fan who supports Taylor Swift on TikTok
a video by a Republican Swiftie named Kayleigh lip-synced to Swift’s 2013 single ’22’.
But instead of singing the beginning of the chorus as “I feel 22,” he changed the lyrics to “I’m voting for Donald Trump.”
Another viral video by @thedebralea uses popular audio that changes lyrics from Swift’s 2006 song, ‘Picture to Burn.’
The caption reads: “With Swifties for Trump finally gaining momentum, can this masterpiece be our anthem?”
Swift endorsed Harris for president in September and there are certainly more fans aligning with her.
User @swifties4Kamala, although not affiliated with the singer or the Democratic candidate, is a prolific poster on behalf of the current vice president.
one of the accounts videos shows the infamous clip of JD Vance calling Democratic leaders ‘childless cat ladies,’ while one of Swift’s most popular songs, ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,’ plays in the background.
In the photo: Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris
Notably, Swift herself accompanied her September 10 endorsement with a photo of herself and one of her cats. And he signed it as ‘Taylor Swift, the childless cat lady.’
One of Swift’s stated reasons for wanting to be so public with her endorsement of Harris was because Trump had been sharing fake AI images that suggested Swift was endorsing him.
Other TikTokers with a more comedic style have resorted to impersonating people vying for the highest office in the country.
Austin Nasso, a 29-year-old comedian from New York City, has gone viral many times with his impressions of Trump and Biden.
“I’m trying not to deliberately pick sides on the content,” Nasso said. The New York Times. “I’m trying to make fun of both of them.”
Sam Wiles, a 34-year-old comedian who lives in Los Angeles, mocks Vance on TikTok by wearing eyeliner, which is based on a widespread Internet theory that Trump’s vice president pick wears makeup.
Sam Wiles, pictured, makes frequent videos mocking Trump’s running mate JD Vance.
And Allison Reese, a 32-year-old comedian also from Los Angeles, has become Harris’ signature impersonator.
The cornerstone of his impression is his boisterous laugh, which has long been the basis for why some say they don’t like him.
Then there are the so-called experts who try to undermine partisan networks like MSNBC and Fox News with their more realistic and unrehearsed approach.
Link Lauren, 27, who worked on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign, has amassed more than 700,000 followers with her four-minute videos attacking Biden and now Harris since she became the Democratic nominee.
Under the Desk News, hosted by V Spehar, is a left-leaning TikTok host who posts several videos a day covering breaking news. The account has more than 3.2 million followers.
Of course, TikTok started out as Musicl.ly before being acquired by ByteDance in 2018.
In its heyday, Musicl.ly, then TikTok, began primarily as a platform hosting dance and lip-sync videos.
While TikTok has diversified quite a bit since 2018, many creators still turn to their earliest roots for their content decisions.
Lovers of the musical ‘Hamilton’ have bombarded the app with lip-syncs to the show’s popular lyrics while subtitles appear on the screen expressing excitement for Harris.
User @rawlinsness posted a video attacking Vance in July which garnered more than 167,000 views. In it, she dances to the beat as Vance repeatedly says, “I was never a Trump guy” and “I never liked him.”
In fact, Vance said these things during an interview with Charlie Rose in October 2016, weeks before Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in a surprising result.
Vance photographed appearing on MSNBC in 2016 during a time when he was one of Trump’s most vocal critics.
Eight years later and against all odds, Vance became Trump’s running mate and the attack dog on whom he depended most.
Another creator, @knicolejenae, posted a video in support of Trump on the day he was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in his hush money trial.
The woman, dressed in a red, white and blue outfit with ‘Make America Great Again’ written on the front, happily danced to the song ‘I Love It’ by Icona Pop.
The most iconic lyric from the 2012 hit is “I don’t care,” making the woman’s views on Trump’s condemnation quite clear.
As central as TikTok is to the 2024 election, this could be the last time anyone can use it as a platform to share their opinions on politics.
President Biden signed a law in April that will soon ban TikTok if ByteDance does not sell its stake to someone else with no connection to the Chinese government.
If ByteDance refuses to do so, TikTok will not be allowed on US devices after January 19, 2025, the day before the new president is sworn in.
ByteDance and TikTok sued to block the law in May, arguing it would violate Americans’ free speech rights under the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Experts told the New York Times that they expect the Supreme Court to make a decision on whether to hear the landmark case before the ban takes effect.
