With the U.K. General Election date now official, TikTok has announced a new, dedicated in-app General Election centre, where it will provide reliable and authoritative information for users ahead of the poll. The platform has partnered with Logically Facts, its fact-checking partner, to provide media literacy tips alongside key election and voting information from the Electoral Commission. By directing people to the General Election Centre through prompts and labels on relevant election content and searches, TikTok aims to dispel misinformation and manipulation efforts during the election period.
TikTok reveals that most U.K. politicians have now joined the platform, with @uklabour, @ukconservatives, and @libdems recently creating new accounts. Around a hundred Members of Parliament already had TikTok accounts before the election, with popular figures like Labour’s Zarah Sultana and Conservative’s Dr. Luke Evans among them. Furthermore, U.K. news organizations have also seen success on TikTok, with The Daily Mail, Sky News, the BBC, ITV News, and The Sun all amassing millions of followers on the platform.
It remains uncertain how influential TikTok might be as an election information source, especially considering that the majority of U.K. TikTok users are aged between 15 and 24. This demographic is statistically the least likely to vote, but they do spend a significant amount of time on the app. With many first-time voters in this age group, TikTok could potentially be a valuable platform for connecting on key election issues. The rise of trends originating from TikTok leading public sentiment has led some to believe that this could be the first “TikTok election”.
As TikTok plays a larger role in political discourse, it is crucial for the platform to implement measures to protect election integrity. TikTok will be rolling out additional moderation measures to detect AI manipulation and other forms of influence operations in the weeks leading up to the election. By providing authoritative resources and reliable information, TikTok aims to be a trusted source for users seeking more information on the election and key issues at hand.
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