TikTok politics: Candidates turn to it 'for better or worse'
Wade Herring didn't know the teenage voter who approached him at a restaurant over the weekend. But she knew Herring, a Democrat running for Congress in Georgia, from his campaign videos on TikTok.
To Herring, a 63-year-old Savannah attorney, it was proof of TikTok's precision-guided ability to reach young voters — the very reason why he and candidates from both parties have eagerly embraced the platform ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
“A year and a half ago, I thought it was just dancing videos,” Herring said of TikTok. Young voters, he added, “aren't watching CNN, or MSNBC or Fox. They're getting their information on TikTok, and for better or worse, it's the way to reach them.”
For a number of officials, it's worse.
TikTok’s popularity has surged despite worries from policy makers in Washington about TikTok’s handling of user data and misinformation, as well as its ties to China’s government. Those fears prompted the U.S. armed forces to prohibit the app on military devices, and spurred calls to ban it on all government computers and phones as well.
“I have serious concerns about the opportunities that the Chinese communist party has to access TikTok’s data on American users,” Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said at a hearing this month focused on the national security implications of social media.
Still, its reach is undeniable. TikTok is consumed by two-thirds of American teens , a number that has risen as other platforms have lost popularity. It's the world's most downloaded app, and the second-most visited website after Google. And it's not just about viral dance challenges anymore, but also a place to shop, learn about beauty, fashion or sports, and even find out how to register to vote.
The benefits of using the platform are simply too great to pass up even...