TikTok Becomes New Nest Of Misinformation In The US Presidential Election

Illustration (Image Credit: Hello I'M Nik / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The short video platform TikTok has become a new place for the spread of misinformation and hoaxes related to the presidential election of the United States (US). After the social media universe such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, which prohibits hoax content from circulating on their platforms.

Much of the content contains posts that are inaccurate or misleading, claiming victories from US Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden. At least more than 200,000 hoax content related to the US Presidential Election were found on TikTok.

"We work hard to protect the integrity of our platform as the electoral cycle continues. We remove election misinformation when it is identified proactively through automated technology and human investigations, and reactively through reports from our users and partners," said TikTok in an official statement quoted from The Guardian, Friday 6 November.

Based on TikTok's findings, some of the content in between is a fake narrative claiming that Joe Biden's vote was fraudulent. This includes telling officers to tag Trump voters so the vote doesn't count.

It is known that the content came from a young Republican influencer and two pro Trump accounts, namely the Republican Hype House and The Republican Boys. Not waiting long, the company owned by ByteDance China immediately took action against these misleading accounts.

On the other hand, Twitter is still labeling tweets containing false information and content claiming unilateral victory regarding the results of the US Presidential Election. Meanwhile, Facebook closed the misleading group and deleted posts that claim election victory before it was officially announced.