A report has revealed that Facebook’s parent company Meta is paying one of the biggest Republican consulting firms in the US to fuel a campaign of distrust against TikTok.
The campaign, launched by Republican consulting firm Targeted Victory, shared op-eds and letters to editors of various publications, accusing the platform of being a danger to American children, along with other degrading accusations.
Targeted Victory is one of the biggest marketing agencies for Republican campaigns. Back in 2020, the firm had grossed over $230 million from various republican groups like the pro-Trump super PAC and America First Action. The report further quoted a Targeted Victory director saying:
Get the message out that while Meta is the current punching bag, TikTok is the real threat, especially as a foreign-owned app that is #1 in sharing data that young teens are using.
The campaign promoted stories of dubious and unhinged TikTok trends on local media, including some unsubstantiated claims, that tied the platform to supposedly dangerous trends popular among teenagers. These trends included the viral 2021 “devious lick” trend, where students vandalized school property. Targeted Victory pushed these stories on “devious lick” to local publications in Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Washington DC. But the trend emanated from Facebook, according to an investigation by Anna Foley with the podcast Reply All.
Additionally, campaign workers also used anti-TikTok messages to deflect criticisms that Meta had received regarding its privacy and antitrust policies. Facebook has been losing its daily active user count for quite some time now, with the rising usage of TikTok in the US.
