Political parties and their candidates are turning to the power of TikTok as election season looms. That includes President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign and now, MAGA Inc, Donald Trump’s main super PAC.
MAGA Inc. launched its TikTok account (@maga) on May 8, posting content directly targeting Biden and the Democratic Party, posted by members of the main political action committee backing Trump. The first few videos attacked Biden’s economic policies and deemed independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a “radical leftist”.
About 18 hours after @maga’s first TikTok post, the account holds less than 500 followers.
MAGA, or “Make America Great Again”, is a long-standing political phrase that has been increasingly attributed to Trump in the wake of the 2016 elections. The former president utilized the phrase as a campaign slogan, leading to a social media movement of sorts and the popularization of the hashtag #MAGA. In 2022, MAGA Inc. was formed to back Trump.
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“MAGA INC will not cede any platform to Joe Biden and the Democrats who are trying to destroy our country,” said Taylor Budowich, CEO of MAGA Inc., on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We will ensure President Trump’s America First agenda is brought to every corner of the internet and every precinct of this country.”
The group’s decision to join TikTok comes at a contentious time. Last month, President Biden signed a bill that will effectively ban TikTok in the U.S., unless its parent company ByteDance divests from the app.
Trump unsuccessfully attempted to ban TikTok during his time in office, describing the app as a threat to national security. “We’ll either close up TikTok in this country for security reasons or it’ll be sold,” Trump said at the time. Since, the likely Republican candidate has now gone quiet on TikTok, blaming Biden for the potential ban and instead focusing on publicly admonishing social media rival Facebook.
The Biden campaign also continues to use TikTok in their re-election efforts.
