TikTokTrends week: 18
November 23nd - November 29th
Hi!
Welcome to TikTokTrends, week 18.
This week I will be talking about #TrumpWillWin, #JewsForTrump, and TikTok Sounds.
Let's start!
#TrumpWillWin
This hashtag has been on the rise since election day; however, it was also popular before the election. Currently, TikTok videos with this hashtag are seen delegitimizing the election, calling democrats cheaters, and posting misleading content about the election. The hashtag can be seen used together with #Trump2020 and #SleepyJoeBiden.
This video above was posted by a user named Legendary Family, and the video has gotten over 300 thousand views and over one thousand comments. The video is the content creator using on-screen texts to display his thoughts on the election;
"Obama won 689 counties in 2012, lowest in U.S. history by any elected president. Biden won only 447 [counties] but got 9 million more votes. Mathematical Impossibility."
This is an ongoing trend that can be seen on multiple social platforms, using statistics to prove a point about the election. On Twitter, Trump supporters pointed out the increase in voter turnout and Biden's small rallies sizes as evidence of voter fraud.
The numbers that the TikTok video and many other Trump supporters are using is correct. Yes, Biden has won fewer counties than Obama had won in 2012. And yes, Biden has gotten more total votes than Obama in 2012, 15 million more votes to be exact. So, the numbers do seem to be accurate.
Let's look at these numbers and if they are a mathematical probability or not. Since 2012, the Republican party has gained 13 million votes, very close to what the democratic party has gained. The U.S. population has grown since 2012; it is now at 330 million, while in 2012 it was 309 million, and voter turnout is at the highest it has been in over 100 years.
How about counties? Most of the counties Trump has won have very few residents; hence the popular vote has gone to Biden. According to research done by Brookings, the counties Biden has won are responsible for 70% of the U.S. economy. It can also be seen that the small number of counties Biden has flipped from Trump are counties with high density. Maricopa County and Erie County can be seen to have a large impact on the number of votes while not affecting the number of counties won by Biden. Also, more people live in cities than they do in rural areas, and land does not vote.
So, no. The numbers are not a mathematical anomaly; they seem to fit the trends, and it is not a sign of voter fraud. Using numbers without showing the full picture is a dangerous game to play.
#JewsForTrump
I have previously covered this hashtag in a TikTokTrends newsletter; you can find it here. This week I wanted to look into a simple fact-check that I did on this video that was spreading on TikTok.
The video above has over 300 thousand views and shows a video of a protest where a group of Jewish men protesting can be seen targeted by a police water cannon. Posted on the video is "New York City."
I want to talk about my thought process when I see videos like these online. First of all, when there is text pasted on a video or image, I think twice. I live in New York and have never seen any place that resembles the area in the video. This was the first sign of possible misinformation. The next thing I did is look at the comments. Usually, there are people disputing the video, especially if the video is gaining in popularity. I didn't see much of that; instead, I saw comments saying, "Why didn't the NYPD use these cannons at the BLM protesters" and "Do this to the BLM!"
After going through the comments, I decided to take a closer look at the video; I saw some writing on the building. Some of it looked like Hebrew; the rest was written in the Latin alphabet. It read "Bank Hapoalim." My first reaction was to type that in Google. I then found the bank in Manhattan. I quickly looked at the pictures and street view of the location. It was not what was in the video. I then typed the bank name and ‘Jerusalem’ in Google Maps. My thinking was Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, where Hebrew is used, and protests would most likely be there. I found about ten banks across the city. I then focused on the intersection seen in the video. That helped me eliminate some of the banks that were not on an intersection. I was left with 3 locations to focus on, one of which was the video's exact location.
Although I had verified this was not in New York, I still did not know what it was about. After a little searching using keywords like "police," "Jerusalem," "Protest," and "water cannon," I came across this article by The Times of Israel, where a copy of the video can be seen, with an explanation on the reasons of the protests. The protests apparently happened in July of this year, and protesters called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation.
Not believing anything you see online is vital; however, that is not an easy task, especially when we are all online 24/7. The important thing is to be able to catch the small inconsistencies in content like these. Next time you see text on a video, think twice, especially if you agree with the content!
The many sounds of TikTok
The platform has always been about music, sounds, and dancing. Some sounds are being used in political content as well. I previously talked about the Red Kingdom, a song that Trump voters have since taken over. Today I wanted to list a couple of examples of sounds on TikTok and how they are being used in the political sphere.
#OhNo!
Capone's song, released in 2005, is a Hip-Hop song that has recently gone viral as the OhNo Challenge. The sound became popular with the rise of the video game Among us, as the music was being used in short clips about the game. On TikTok, videos with this song have gained over 13 billion views. The OhNo trend shows a freeze-frame right before an incident happens. This can be falling, dropping, or letting go of something. The song's dramatic cut to the "Oh No!" lyrics allowed creators to freeze the video at just the right moment for comedic effect. In the Political world of TikTok, videos about Biden or live T.V. mishaps were shared with the sound playing in the background.
#ToTheRight
The song by Cupid was released in 2007, and it is known as the Cupid Shuffle. It has been popular for some time now but has recently gained traction on TikTok with a remixed edition of the song. The song's lyrics are generally seen as a call to dance, directing the listener to go to the right, left, and down to do 'your dance.' In the remixed version that has gained popularity in TikTok's political sphere, the song only says, "to the right." Content creators then use text to write the idea they agree with on the right of the screen, dancing toward it. Videos can range from the usual Trump or Biden dilemma to $100 or Follow Jesus.
#TrumpIsYourPresident
The political song by Bryson Gray was released in October 2019 via a video on YouTube. The song quickly became a viral hit and gained more traction as the election came closer. On November 3rd, Gray released an official music video to the song, featuring Rodger Stone. The song on TikTok was a fan favorite amongst Trump supporters. Many posting videos of rallies, houses, and anti-Biden content.
Since the overwhelming Trump oriented content on the sound emerged, many K-pop fans tried to change that by posting videos of K-pop dancers and other unrelated content with the song playing in the background. Some were adding anti-Trump comments, others just focusing on the K-pop. The trick that K-pop fans used was lowering the sound to almost zero. This way, their video would be featured amongst other pro-Trump content while not using the sound at all.
Honorable Mentions
Truden Penris! It's a great name, in my opinion. Derived from Trump Biden – Pence Harris. Truden Penris is, unfortunately, not a real person; it is a character created by Peter Johanns on TikTok. Johanns has since gone viral on TikTok and now is raffling off his blue and red shirt, with the proceeds going to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. While playing the character, he wears half a facemask, representing Biden's side, and half of a MAGA hat, representing Trump's side. The character started as a Halloween costume for Johanns, then went viral on TikTok.
Henry Winkler is on TikTok! Winkler, a.k.a Fonz, debuted his first TikTok video three days ago. While not gaining instant attention, the next video went viral! Gaining over 6 million views in 3 days, Winkler shows off his dance moves in true TikTok fashion!
Being in the loop! A high school teacher, Rach Gibbs, posted a video explaining what kids are doing nowadays. Showing some of the ways Gen-Z'ers are communicating with each other. The video was featured on Vox and has since gained a lot of attention.
That is all for this week! Please share this newsletter if you enjoyed reading it. And don't be shy to send me an email about what you think I should cover, or if I have missed anything.
Thank you for reading, hope to see you next week, on Sunday!