As a place where millions of young Americans perform and explore their identities in public, TikTok has become a prominent venue for ideological formation, political activism and trolling. It has homegrown pundits, and despite its parent company’s reluctance to being involved with politics — the service does not allow political ads — it has attracted interest from campaigns. TikTok was instrumental in the organization of a mass false-registration drive ahead of a Trump rally in Tulsa, Okla., where many seats were unfilled. It has been suggested by many, including The New York Times, that TikTok teens will save the world. A team of researchers has been analyzing political expression on TikTok since, well, before it was TikTok.

Source: New York Times June 28, 2020 09:56 UTC