President Biden is tapping in TikTokers to help sway the public’s opinion on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while keeping Gen-Zers informed on what’s going on.
The White House briefed 30 popular TikTokers last week about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine via Zoom. The Washington Post reports that National Security Council staffers and White House press secretary Jen Psaki gave TikTok stars vital information about the unfolding war, including some of the United States’ strategic goals in the region.
During the call, the staffers and Psaki answered questions on distributing aid to Ukrainians, working with The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and how the U.S. would react to the Russian military using nuclear weapons.
In response to TikTok‘s rise as a dominant news source for Gen-Zers, the White House has approached a select group of its most influential users.
Jules Suzdaltsev, a Ukrainian-born creator who runs the news account “Good Morning, Bad News,” was on the call and hailed the meeting for acknowledging the app’s influence and creators’ ability to connect with a broad audience, the Insider reports.
“It gets such a wide reach, especially among young people who are interested in news,” Suzdaltsev, who has over 1.1 million followers on TikTok, said. “TikTok is a really good platform for news, which is to say that there are a lot of really talented news creators on the app.”
@kahlilgreene The White House invited content creators to learn more about the crisis in Ukraine. #hiddenhistory #ukraine #blackcommunitytiktok ♬ original sound – Kahlil
Other creators invited to the meeting include Kahlil Greene, a self-described “Gen-Z Historian” with over 500,000 followers, and Marcus DiPaola, a news TikToker with over 3.5 million followers.
@marcus.dipaola MAR 10 — Background briefing
♬ original sound – Marcus DiPaola
As the invasion of Ukraine continues, millions of younger demographics are turning to TikTok to learn more about it in real-time.
A video posted on TikTok last month shows images and video clips of missiles falling over the city of Kyiv like fireworks at the beginning of the war. The video, captioned, “The capital of Ukraine at the moment,” has accumulated over 50 million views with over 9 million likes and almost 144K in comments.
@martavasyuta 🙏🏽🇺🇦 #Ukraine ♬ bringing the era back yall – chuuyas gf
Video clips shared on TikTok have provided the first glimpses of the invasion, and the platform has been used to spread the word overseas.
Several Ukrainians, including TikToker @valerisssh, have shared their stories on the platform about hiding in bomb shelters or fleeing their homes. Valerisssh shared a video of her mother cooking Borscht, a Ukrainian soup, while trying to stay safe from imminent danger.
@valerisssh Professional cooker! #ukraine #stopwar #russiastop ♬ original sound – pradasaint
On February 12th, a TikTok video showed a Ukrainian soldier moonwalking to Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” in an empty field.
@alexhook2303 #🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 #🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦💙💛 #Топ #ЗСУ #Рек #украинатикток #славаукраїні #Армия #ООС #огонь ♬ πρωτότυπος ήχος – Giannis Karaolis
It has earned over 85 million views and more than a hundred thousand comments, including “Be safe, guys.”
TikTok stars, many of whom have millions of followers, are increasingly trying to make sense of the crisis for their audience.
