2022 federal election set to be influenced by TikTok creators

Adelaide’s “magpie man”, a giant Shrek in the sky and warring political memes. It may seem frivolous, but experts say TikTok will influence the federal election.

A South Australian magpie impersonator warbles over a Liberal Party background. A floating two-bit photo of Scott Morrison’s head smashes itself into a Medicare card while the Pokemon theme plays.

The 2022 federal election is playing out like no other, with social media and, in particular, TikTok becoming a key battleground for major parties as they vie for the youth vote.

The video-sharing platform now boasts more than 7.3 million Australian users, mostly aged between 16-25.

As May 21 fast approaches, political parties and TikTok creators are increasing content on the youth-driven platform.

Professor Daniel Angus, digital media researcher from Queensland University of Technology, says platforms like TikTok will play a key role in the election as young people shy away from traditional media consumption.

“There are a number of high-profile TikTok producers who are doing political-related material … it’s maybe not expressly political, but certainly politically-related,” Professor Angus told The Advertiser.

“We’re talking about a generation that is much more alive (politically). Progressive politics, gender equality and individualism – other platforms might not allow them to express those ideas.

“Youth are going to, like any up-and-coming generation, try and find a voice wherever they can, and they may have felt that their voice couldn’t be heard on existing platforms.”

The Liberal party's TikTok account has only 1800 followers, while Labor has 75.9k.

Supplied Editorial The Greens posted a take on the popular 'Shrek in the Sky' trend last month.

Professor Angus said that while TikTok content may seem frivolous or ‘dumb’ to the untrained eyes of older generations, it was really no different to campaigns of elections past.

“We have to remind ourselves that our parents and their grandparents would have printed the content they were consuming,” he said.

“It’s just the same thing done again … this is very much content produced for the core user audience, which is the youth demographic, and they have a particular vernacular unique to that.”

So influential is the platform’s reach that the Australian Electoral Commission launched an in-app election guide on TikTok, intended to stamp out misinformation and encourage young people to enrol.

Last week, the AEC demanded that TikTok and other social media platforms investigate a satirical video posted by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, which features Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong discussing electoral fraud.

Unlike other social media platforms, TikTok has also banned political advertising – meaning parties must rely on organic content to reach their target audience.

As it stands, the Labor Party holds the gauntlet for TikTok success with 75.9k followers, compared to just 1800 on the Liberal Party’s account. The Greens have 15.5k followers.

Adelaide stars weigh in

With one of the nation’s most hotly-contested marginal seats, South Australia has plenty of local voices diving into politics on the social media platform.

Adelaide’s own self-proclaimed “magpie man”, who has more than 200k followers, shared a video this week of him warbling over a video of one of Josh Frydenberg’s supporters in the Melbourne seat of Kooyong.

Belinda Davey, who posts to TikTok under the moniker “Belinduh Pyne” – an homage to her favourite politician – quickly found social media fame in the lead-up to the state election.

Sharing predominantly memes about the state and federal Liberal party, Davey now has more than 26,000 dedicated followers on her TikTok account.

Davey said she was surprised at how many young people resonated with her content and wanted to engage with politics.

“People reached out to me on my TikTok and wanted to hear my general opinions, because they were kind of surprised that a Labor girl liked Christopher Pyne, and it went from there,” Davey told The Advertiser.

“I realised that I was reaching out to a lot of young people and they would ask me questions and for advice on how to get more information on politics.”

Davey said the platform, which generally sees users post short clips set to trending sounds, had helped make politics “fun” for younger Australians.

“I think a lot of people don’t jump into politics because it does seem boring. When you see it on the television it doesn’t seem exciting,” she said.

“So TikTok is such a good platform because you can make little memes, take funny bits out of press conferences, add a bit of music, a bit of comedy.

“It’s short videos, so even if they’ve got a short attention span you can get that information in there.”

Adelaide's self-proclaimed 'magpie man', who warbles like a magpie to more than 200k followers, has waded into politics on the platform.

TikTok user Belinda Davey, who posts political content, met with Premier Peter Malinauskas following the state election.

Davey said the app’s growing community of politically-active young people was focused on issues like climate change, equality and corruption within government.

“It brings people together so you can openly have discussions with people online … a silly video can bring people together to openly discuss or debate politics,” she said.

“I love seeing the younger generation really caring about democracy and this country.

“They want a good future – and it is their future and it’s so important that they care, because they are the future.”

Professor Angus said, while the platform may feature ScoMo memes and silly remixes, TikTok’s real power transcended party politics and into the broader political ecosystem.

“If you’re getting a lot of content that is talking about transgender issues in a positive way, talking about climate change and how we’re still not getting action, talking about housing affordability … you’re going to see an influence,” he said.

“When you’ve got comedians and others producing that content, the huge audience that inhabits that platform is going to be resonating with those issues.

“There’s no amount of memetic and whimsical viral content that parties can create that’s going to make up for the fact that the youth aren’t seeing their wants, desires and concerns in the policies and candidates put forward.”