TikTokTrends Week: 5
Week of August 17th
Welcome to week 5 of TikTokTrends. Happy to see you here again!
This we’ll be talking about Breonna Taylor, #CopBrutality and the DNC.
For more information on TikTok Trends, or to read previous editions, check out the archives here.
Let’s jump right in!
Trigger warning: Disturbing imagery about Breonna Taylor’s death.
#BreonnaTaylor
Breonna Taylor was killed on March 13th during a no-knock entry into her house on suspicion of drug dealing. She was shot by the police at least eight times and was not treated for 27 minutes. The hashtag isn’t currently trending on TikTok, however, there are new videos made about her death every day and the hashtag has accumulated over 250 million views since March.
The Context:
The video above was shot to explain what happened during the Breonna Taylor shooting. This video is a great example of how conservatives spread misinformation. Let’s take a look at the ways these videos distort the truth with very simple tactics.
The video starts by leaving no room for suspicion, the person is very direct and claims he’s making a detailed video about the situation, allowing the viewer to trust the content creator, in this case, “Backroadjohnny” who only mentions his first name, Jonathan. This is where it all starts.
Content like this aims to get an instant reaction. Usually by pointing out some actual facts, then going into some personal opinion, which is also presented as facts, and finally ending in a way that you would think the person is making some sense in his arguments. Here, Jonathan is trying to convince his viewers that the police did not act in a racially motivated way in Taylor’s case.
The video starts by giving information like the date of the incident and identifying the names of the policemen involved in the shooting, which are factual. He used the words “passed away” instead of “killed” or “murdered” when talking about Taylor-- an inconspicuous opinion squeezed in there as a fact.
Jonathan continues and uses the word “Drug House” to explain that the police suspected Jamarcus Glover, the main suspect in the investigation, and Kenneth Walker, Breonna’s boyfriend, of selling controlled substances. Not giving much explanation, at first glance it seems like he is talking about Breonna Taylor’s home when he says “Drug House.” This changes the way viewers will continue to watch the video.
It is likely that Jonathan is reading from the Wikipedia page of the Breonna Taylor Shooting. The Wikipedia page uses the same wording up to “drug house” but then Jonathan skips an important sentence “10 miles away.” The article is in fact talking about the “known drug house” where Glover was seen bringing a package from Taylor’s house back in January, according to Courier Journal’s article.
Jonathan next says, “from eyewitness accounts, the police identified themselves as police officers.”
This is a very controversial topic. The police say that they identified themselves, however, neighbors and the family of Breonna Taylor have said the opposite. What Jonathan is doing here, is what we see Trump doing all the time, using another person to articulate trust. “You don’t have to believe me, but the neighbors, you must believe them?!” This can be seen all around the misinformation space, it is a way to trick your mind into thinking that the information is true, by using another person as the authority on the subject.
These videos also usually have factual sentences scattered in them, for example, Jonathan explains that Taylor’s car was seen at Glover’s house, several times. This is true, as was explained in this NBC article. Adding truth convinces people with little knowledge of the incident to believe the misinformation.
The video concludes by Jonathan saying, “bullets are not racially motivated.”
Which again can make a person less informed about the situation think – “how can a bullet be racially motivated?”, “he must be telling the truth!”
Yes, a bullet is not racially motivated, but it’s the shooter behind the bullet that makes it an effective tool.
However, the system, the police department, the police trainers, the supervisors, the officers, the back-up officers, the laws, the justice system, the judges… all of these can be racially motivated.
For a video that started off by saying no one has made a detailed video about Taylor’s murder, he has left some very key details out of the conversation.
Breonna Taylor was shot, about eight times, and no one came to her aid for 27 minutes. 27. This was not mentioned. Neither were the facts that Breonna and Walker, had no prior charges or that there were no drugs found in the apartment.
There is a lot that Jonathan conveniently missed. And the comment section seems to have missed them as well.
He is not the only one doing this. The same tactic can often be seen in videos that spread misinformation. Combining facts with opinions, using a very direct tone, and convincing the viewer with catchy phrases that make it seem true. Here are a couple of other examples of George Floyd and Goya and Ivanka Trump: Link 1, Link 2. Try to listen to how they form their sentences, how they combine the facts with opinions, skip important facts and usually end with a statement of some sorts, prompting the viewer to react to the conclusion.
#CopBrutality
Getting 20 million views in 3 days, after an incident in Gwinnett County, Georgia, where the forceful arrest happened, the hashtag has gone viral on TikTok. Police brutality cases being recorded and shared on social platforms like TikTok are on the rise. Hashtags like BLM and Justice are frequently shared with it.
The Context:
The video starts after a police officer arrives on a porch, to investigate an accusation of a thrown bottle, in an incident of alleged property damage and a threat to a Black woman and her nine-year-old son. In the video, Officer Michael Oxford is seen engaging in an argument with Kyndesia Smith, another Black woman among those being accused of throwing the bottle, telling her that she will go to jail if she continues to talk.
The video continues with the officer forcefully trying to arrest Smith, then tasering her for no apparent reason.
Smith did not endanger the officer, was not running away, did not have a weapon, was on her own porch when he came. The situation escalated in seconds. Oxford has since been terminated as a result of an investigation when it was found that he was previously accused of similar violence. However, the investigation determined that Oxford did have probable cause to arrest Smith, due to her obstructing the law.
The bodycam footage from the officer can be found on YouTube, where the incident can be understood in more detail. He first approaches the woman who called the police. She shows video evidence of a bottle being thrown at her car. She then continues to explain that she filed a report about the same people she’s now accusing before and has a ‘trespassing thing’ against them.
Oxford decides to get both sides of the story and goes to the house where the accused, three women including Smith, were on their porch. The bodycam footage shows him being greeted by one of the women who says “I didn’t call you”, to which Oxford responds: “I don’t care if you called me, I am here anyway.” Thirty seconds after arriving at the porch, following some back and forth with the three women, he announces that he will arrest Smith if she doesn’t “shut up” – then the events that were seen on TikTok occur.
The situation was handled horribly by the officer. The environment was not hostile, he did not take his time to understand the situation, and he rushed to get someone arrested, merely because they were aggravated over him being there, and about the situation in general.
After so many police brutality cases in the states, it is aggravating to see yet another officer using excessive force against Black people and minorities to get what he wants.
#DNC
As usual, I wanted to end on a happy note. This week we had the Democratic National Convention. It didn’t spark too much attention on TikTok, other than some jabs at Melania Trump potentially plagiarizing Michelle Obama’s speech, and at Joe Biden.
I wonder if the RNC will be a hit? Excited to see what comes up during the RNC next week!
The Context:
The video above starts with a remixed version of the Aretha Franklin song, Respect. The lyrics go:
(oo) What you want?
(oo) Baby, I got
(oo) What you need?
(oo) Do you know I got it?
(oo) All I'm askin'
(oo) Is for a little respect
The video is making fun of Joe Biden getting the attention of progressives. In every verse, the creator has added some of the plans that Biden has, that the progressives have liked.
“Joe Biden: $15 an hour” – “Progressives: Yes!”
“Joe Biden: Tuition-free university” – “Progressives: Yes!”
“Joe Biden: Green New Deal!” – “Progressives: YES!”
Ending with the lyrics “All I am asking, is for a little respect!”
In Other News:
Priscila Beatrice broke the internet this week, getting a huge amount of news coverage as the TikToker that looks like Rihanna. Even Rihanna herself was excited about it, leaving a comment on her doppelganger’s video asking about her own new album.
#NYU students took to TikTok to protest their school-provided lunch during their mandatory quarantine in their dorms. If they even got any. Some posted about their not so Vegan steak and cheese salad. Others posted about their lunch box without the salad in it, deeming it a “silent chicken Caesar salad”.
Last, but not least, in the TikTok ban world, it has been reported that TikTok will take legal action against the ban. Also, Oracle is now apparently interested in buying TikTok. Oracle, a company mainly focusing on databases, does not have any social media experience and as pointed out by Tae Kim from Bloomberg, it would be just weird.
I had a chance to talk with Marcus Bösch, a fellow journalist who is also writing about TikTok in his weekly newsletter, covering the technical and journalistic aspects of the application. Journalists interested in using TikTok to do journalism should definitely check it out!
That’s all for this week folks. Don’t forget to subscribe, share, and let me know if you think there’s an interesting TikTok trend I should be talking about! – Here is my Twitter!
See you next week!
A huge thank you to Nikitha Sattiraju for helping me edit this Newsletter!