TikTok is full of quirky creators desperate to influence the votes of hundreds of millions of people in the upcoming US elections.
And there is reason to believe that TikTok, the short-form social media platform from Chinese company ByteDance, will have an even greater impact on the election than it did four years ago.
In 2020, when Joe Biden and then-incumbent President Donald Trump were running, TikTok had 50 million monthly active users in the United States. That has since exploded to more than 150 million, representing about 43 percent of the country’s population.
Both candidates have used the popular vote-gathering platform this cycle.
And with more thumbs scrolling on phone screens than ever before, TikTok users are seeing a variety of politically themed content as the race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris narrows in recent days.
This includes a small sect of Taylor Swift fans who have gone against their idol (the pop star endorsed Harris) by changing her lyrics to express their support for Trump.
There are also impersonators of the candidates and people who record themselves dancing to infamous candidate soundbites.
TikTok has become one of the most popular places on the internet for everyday Americans to express themselves about the state of the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris
This Republican Swiftie named Kayleigh changed Taylor’s megahit ’22’ to show support for Trump
User @thedebralea is another prominent Trump supporter from Taylor Swift fan on TikTok
One video by a Republican Swiftie named Kayleigh had her lip-syncing Swift’s 2013 hit single “22.”
But instead of singing the beginning of the chorus as “I feel 22,” she changed the words to “I’m voting for Donald Trump.”
Another viral video from @thedebralea uses a popular audio that changes the lyrics in Swift’s 2006 song “Picture to Burn.”
The caption reads: ‘As Swifties for Trump finally gains momentum, this masterpiece can be our anthem.’
Swift endorsed Harris for president in September and there are certainly more of her fans joining her.
User @swifties4Kamala, while not affiliated with the singer or the Democratic candidate, is a prolific poster on behalf of the current vice president.
One of the bills videos features the infamous clip of JD Vance calling Democratic leaders “childless cat ladies” while one of Swift’s most popular songs, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” plays in the background.
Pictured: Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris
Notably, Swift herself accompanied her September 10 endorsement with a photo of her and one of her cats. And she signed it “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady.”
One of Swift’s stated reasons for wanting to be so public with her support of Harris was because Trump had shared AI deepfake images that suggested Swift supported him.
Other TikTokers with more comedic flair have resorted to mimicking the people vying for the highest office in the land.
Austin Nasso, a 29-year-old comedian from New York City, has often gone viral with his impressions of Trump and Biden.
“I don’t consciously try to take sides in terms of content,” Nasso said The New York Times. “I’m trying to fool them both.”
Sam Wiles, a 34-year-old comedian from Los Angeles, makes fun of Vance on TikTok by wearing eyeliner, which is based on a widespread internet theory that Trump’s VP pick wears makeup.
Sam Wiles, pictured, regularly makes videos ridiculing Trump’s running mate JD Vance
And Allison Reese, a 32-year-old comedian also in Los Angeles, has become Harris’ signature impersonator.
The cornerstone of her impression is her boisterous laugh, which has long been the basis for why some say they don’t like her.
Then there are the self-proclaimed experts who try to undermine partisan networks like MSNBC and Fox News with their more down-to-earth, unrehearsed approach.
Link Lauren, 27, who worked on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign. worked, has amassed more than 700,000 followers with his four-minute videos attacking Biden and now Harris since she became the Democratic nominee.
Hosted by V Spehar, Under the Desk News is a left-wing TikTok host who posts multiple videos a day with breaking news stories. The account has more than 3.2 million followers.
Of course, TikTok started as Musicl.ly before being acquired by ByteDance in 2018.
In its heyday, Musicl.ly – and then TikTok – started primarily as a platform that hosted lip-syncing and dance videos.
While TikTok has diversified quite a bit since 2018, many creators still draw on its earliest roots for their content decisions.
Lovers of the musical “Hamilton” have bombarded the app with lip syncs of the show’s popular lyrics, while captions appear on the screen expressing enthusiasm for Harris.
User @rawlinsness posted a video in which he attacked Vance in July and subsequently received more than 167,000 views. In it, she dances to the beat as Vance repeatedly says, “I’m never a Trump guy” and “I never liked him.”
Indeed, Vance said these things during an interview with Charlie Rose in October 2016, weeks before Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in a troubling outcome.
Vance appeared on MSNBC in 2016 at a time when he was one of Trump’s most outspoken critics
Eight years later, against all odds, Vance became Trump’s running mate and most dependent attack dog
Another creator, @knicolejenae, posted a video in support of Trump on the day he was found guilty of all 34 charges of falsifying company records in his hush money trial.
The woman, wearing a red, white and blue outfit with “Make America Great Again” on the front, happily danced to the song “I Love It” by Icona Pop.
The most iconic lyric from the 2012 hit is “I don’t care,” making the woman’s opinion on Trump’s conviction quite clear.
As central as TikTok is to the 2024 election, this could be the last time anyone can use it as a platform to share their opinions on politics.
President Biden signed a law in April that will soon ban TikTok if ByteDance doesn’t sell its ownership stake to someone else without a tie to the Chinese government.
If ByteDance refuses, TikTok will no longer be allowed on US devices after January 19, 2025, the day before the new president is sworn in.
ByteDance and TikTok filed a lawsuit in May to block the law, arguing it would violate American freedom of speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution.
Experts told The New York Times they expect the Supreme Court to decide whether to hear the landmark case before a ban takes effect.