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Whether you pay attention to politics or not, everything you do is political. The clothes you wear, the TV shows you watch and even where you walk your dog are connected to politics. The laws passed, the movements that invoked major change, and the impacts that followed them are forever connected to politics.
If politics suddenly sounds boring to you, that’s because it is, or at least used to be. You weren’t constantly reading and hearing people’s opinions on current events across social media. You had to seek out that content at specific times of day, such as while watching the nightly news, listening to radio broadcasts or reading the morning paper. There was no endless stream of information available at your fingertips, no ragebait, no White House-produced edits.
Political content has been a mainstay of TikTok in particular. The app is rife with news and commentary often intended to rile users. Much of the platform’s political content does more harm than good.
Mainstream political actors have increasingly turned to TikTok to reach constituents with content creation. However, rather than bringing awareness to real causes, the content often manipulates pop culture, alienates audiences and turns important policy into entertainment.
The White House TikTok account, for example, has leaned into using AI for video creation, evoking a negative reaction from critics. The account has also used popular app audios and songs against the wishes of many of those songs’ creators. For instance, when the White House included Sabrina Carpenter’s “Juno” in an edit, the singer replied to its now-deleted video on X, condemning the use of her song to advance an agenda she disagreed with.
The Democratic Party has deployed a similar strategy, using popular audios or leaning into trends to boost their content, condemning President Trump and his administration. While it seems funny, it also doesn’t help the Democrats as much as attract criticism for making jokes instead of acting. When consuming such content, it’s jarring to remind yourself that high-level political actors are behind it. These videos might seem funny, like a Connecticut politician referencing 6-7 on the House floor. However, politicians using short-form content to push their serious agendas undermines the political process.
Through TikTok, “clipfarming” among politicians has grown to become a regular occurrence in the aftermath of hearings and debates. Clipfarming is when someone does something surprising or exaggerated while being filmed for the sake of attention, anticipating it will result in a clip online. While these actions may gain attention, they shouldn’t be part of politics. Social media’s encouragement of clipfarming takes away from the gravity of politics.
Heat-of-the-moment sound bites have been a political weapon for a while. In a 1988 debate, vice-presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen drew attention for his famous “You are no Jack Kennedy” assertion when Dan Quayle compared his time in Congress to Kennedy’s. However, in the digital age, moments that make for good entertainment are more common than ever, circulating rapidly to a public that now tends more toward knee-jerk emotional reactions than reasoned political deliberation.
TikTok also offers politicians 24/7 access to their constituents. Now that most people tune into social media for news over traditional channels, politicians can post to broad audiences at any time of the day. With TikTok, politics can engage the politically apathetic when they’re most off guard. Doing so could raise awareness of politicians’ positions across diverse audiences, allowing for differing perspectives and a broader view of many situations. However, choosing to force-feed the uninitiated through short-form content instead of showing the full scope can lead to undesired outcomes for the issue the parties and politicians are trying to address, such as increased polarization, not properly looking into stories and taking them at face value.
While politics used to seem boring because coverage was contained to specific times and places, social media has ushered in a new age. Politics can still seem boring to many, but the rise of short-form content has made it easier to learn about politics or even contribute to greater political animosity and polarization. By allowing people to engage in politics more easily, social media can allow them to become aware of issues more quickly and better than ever. However, by choosing to prioritize virality, it doesn’t allow for a truly nuanced conversation.
Jacob Fry (he/him) is a junior studying political science.
