Tall Tales on TikTok
Midterm elections are nearing, and major political events are often accompanied by a wave of conspiracy theories. Following President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, believers of the QAnon conspiracy movement circulated claims about how the Act of 1871, through several layers of misinterpretations, justified citizens committing crimes. They also claimed that presidents elected after the act, such as Biden, are illegitimate (Rolling Stone). Among the most major instigators of conspiracy theories spreading is TikTok, whose short-form videos with limited engageability do not have the space and time for developed political conversations, according to Harvard University’s Technology and Social Change Project researcher Kaylee Fagan. For example, more than 60% of videos with harmful misinformation in the first quarter of 2022 were viewed before being removed (New York Times). Regarding this year’s midterm elections, Republicans are using the slogan “stop the steal”, previously a slogan used by Trump supporters for voter-fraud conspiracy in 2020 elections, to share complaints about the upcoming elections being based on a corrupt voting system (New York Times). In response to conspiracy-related content like this, TikTok has been cracking down on baseless hashtags as well as tinkering with their algorithms in an effort to contain the spread of misinformation. However, this has been mostly unsuccessful due to workarounds via minor spelling changes. After #StopTheSteal was shut down, content relating to it circulated under the hashtag #StopTheStea1111 instead. This altered phrase garnered nearly a million views before being disabled.
More recently, TikTok has taken drastic measures in order to counter misinformation by prioritizing funding machine-learning algorithms as well as fact-checkers, to name a few examples. In spite of the company’s recent detailed documentation of the measures they are taking, there has thus been no confirmation of their effectiveness and their effect on the midterm remains to be seen.
Using TikTok trends is not a new tactic for Republicans and right-wingers. According to Vox, Republicans and right-wingers have been using charismatic right-leaning influencers and content creators to garner support, which has been the most successful on TikTok due to the platform’s short format. Freshman Henry Shim believes this sentiment wholeheartedly and is concerned about this strategy.
“Conspiracies, misinformation [and charismatic] figures [spreading misinformation] have been prevalent in right-winged media, and they are one of the major driving forces of the Republican Party,” Shim said. “The conspiracies also have a major influence in the South, especially the deep South. [Overall,] I believe they are a major [influence and problem].”
Columbia Broadcasting System News also states that political analysts and other experts are concerned due to the fact that TikTok videos seem to gain much more traction than media on any other app and have been used to successfully spread political misinformation in the past. In 2016, the conspiracy Pizzagate had amassed 82 million views on the platform (New York Times). Pizzagate is a disproved theory that circulated in 2016 about an alleged sex trafficking operation disscussed in a leaked governor’s emails, amassing one supporter who even fired a rifle in a pizza joint while claiming to investigate its supposed illegal activities (Time). Although it has been proven false, the New York Times states that the conspiracy has recently been rekindled on TikTok. Despite numerous instances of theories amassing thousands of sometimes extreme followers, several students do not agree that the rapid spread of misinformation through social media is a serious problem. For instance, freshman and debate team member Mason Kim, believes that the misinformation and theories are not numerous enough to have any major effect.
“Conspiracy theories and misinformation on apps such as TikTok have so far only been a minority,” Kim said. “I do not believe that they will have a major enough influence to turn the tide of the [midterm] elections. [They] do, of course, have some level of influence, but I do not think it is enough to change anything.”
The statement is not baseless, as recently, political conspiracy theories have been overshadowed by other factors like accusations of untrustworthiness in the government. For example, according to Business Insider, several congressmen were recently caught committing fraud by using their positions to have leverage whilst trading stock. Research by the International Society of Political Psychology indicates that scandals and controversies have had significant and sometimes catastrophic effects on political events in the past. Meanwhile, research published on SAGE Journals found that conspiracy theory articles and media only had standard effects on the beliefs and actions of 200 participants in a study. This has been echoed by Advanced Placement European History and U.S. Government teacher Donald Frazier, who believes conspiracies are not the only problem in the political landscape.
“Anything that makes people question the legitimacy of the election is a problem,” Frazier said. “Our whole system of [government] is based on trust – our money is not backed by gold. So it [does not] help that Congress and politicians have made [poor decisions] in the past. Who needs to believe in conspiracies when corruption is rampant?”
