The political TikTok wars of 2023
Political Tiktoks are being used by several politicians and political parties to gain the attention of the younger generations.
TikTok has been infiltrated. Yes, it’s true, TikTok is no longer a silly little platform where silly little kids do silly little dances - now we have to deal with politicians too. New Zealand’s political parties are putting their low-wage Gen Z interns to work and they’re all fighting each other for the attention of people aged 18-25.
Objectively, National are killing the TikTok game. They’ve got consistent branding with a mix of informative videos, dramatic montages, and a solid amount of TikTok trends in there. There’s even multiple videos of a split screen between a Chris Luxon interview and a compilation video of either kinetic sand cutting, molten glass creations and the classic ‘Is It Real Or Is It Cake?’ Luxon himself is a bit of a TikTok icon, openly man-crushing on Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer and starring in his partners ‘Day in The Life’ videos.
National’s TikTok account frames Deputy Leader Nicola Willis as being a powerhouse, advocating in parliament and taking that information straight to TikTok, just for you. Comparatively, Luxon’s videos are of his interactions with the public, interviews, and speeches, disseminating him more as the real face of National.
Also jumping on those TikTok trends is the Green Party. MP Chloe Swarbrick features heavily on their page with the occasional appearance from co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw.
While a lot of these videos are informative, the Greens are mostly using these TikTok trends to shit on other parties, particularly National and their proposed tax budget. The Green’s portfolio of trends include the new Barbie movie, several Pedro Pascal memes, iconic sounds like, “I hope you’re hungry… for nothing,” and even the two little dancing dogs from Barbie & The Diamond Castle. Their TikTok page feels more real and less put together than National’s and while it’s also clearly targeting a younger audience, at least they’re not putting compilation videos on the bottom of the screen.
Coming in hot is none other than ACT with internet icon and party leader David Seymour. With only three videos posted this year, their account is far less active than most, and doesn’t feature even half as many TikTok trends as the Greens. Honestly, it may as well be Seymour’s personal TikTok because he is all over that page giving out NCEA exam tips, displaying his best efforts on the golf course and even showing he’s “#teamtaytay” when asked about Taylor Swifts’ 10 minute version of All Too Well. ACT’s TikTok account is exactly as expected, a fan page for David Seymour.
With their leader Raj Manji running for Ilam electorate, TOP are fighting hard to get votes from the younger audience. While their TikTok page has become more information based as the election draws near, they’re channelling what National has done with a mix of branding, interviews and targeted TikTok trends. So it's kind of like a National dupe, really.
Even New Conservative have managed to scrape together a relatively active TikTok page, though it is mostly just videos of Ted Johnstone frowning into the camera, so it’s not likely to give other political parties a run for their money.
If you’re wondering where Labour comes into all this, they don’t actually have a TikTok account. The only political party in the country not to have one, in fact. They’re probably a little busy trying to keep their politicians out of scandals and in their party to worry about adapting Barbie memes for their political campaign.
A video from the official National Party Tiktok page.
One party is doing it differently though.
Te Pāti Māori haven’t posted on their TikTok page since February last year, but co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi post on their personal TikTok accounts regularly.
Ngarewa-Packer, @whaeadeb, has over 12,000 followers and isn’t jumping on tacky TikTok trends to grab the attention of Gen Z , she’s just being herself. She posts videos responding to false media accusations, political happenings, and controversies like the TikTok ban on parliamentary devices back in March.
The ban came after the issues America had with the Chinese-owned app, and New Zealand’s parliamentary service determined it was a major security risk. Ngarewa-Packer posted a video on her TikTok asking people whether they, “think this is about security or is it about looking after those who stand to gain the most if TikTok is out of the way?” She then posted a video with the words, “Removing TikTok from my political ph because parliament trust META more 🙄,” and added the hashtags “#tiktokban #geopolitics #bs.”
For the most part, other political parties keep their TikTok pages light and use trendy sounds to connect to Gen Z. On the other end, there’s parties who aren’t on the app, and there are some who have individual pages like Te Pāti Māori’s leaders but also National’s Chris Luxon. Ultimately, it’s all in an effort to inform a generation who typically have a lower voter turnout than older generations, so political TikTok accounts may not be a bad thing.
Technology and social media has made politics more personal than it has ever been before. It turns politicians into media stars and internet memes, and hones in on an easily obsessive and attention hungry generation. If people are voting purely based on what they’ve seen on TikTok, their decision may not only be misinformed, but may be influenced by personalities rather than policies. As with all things, critical thinking and correct information is imperative. Stay informed and don’t just rely on political TikTok pages, okay?
