Have you heard about the TikTok challenge? Kids were filming TikTok videos where they would vandalize school property. The TikTok challenge is self-explanatory.
If you are familiar with the stories that paint a very negative picture of the viral video app, there is a chance you learned about it from a Republican marketing firm that was hired by Facebook.
According to a new report from Taylor Lorenz in the Washington Post, Targeted Victory was hired by Facebook to carry out an anti-TikTok campaign.
One area that Targeted Victory appears to focus on is getting local media outlets to cover TikTok trends that could be dangerous or harmful to young people.
A link about a TikTok challenge was shared in a text message group for parents of my son's first grade class. The TikTok trend was spreading across the country. Local news stations covered this news with TV segments on stations from CBS Sacramento in California to WPLG Local 10 in Miami, Florida.
It became clear that the TikTok challenge did not exist on the platform. It was a hoax that was spread on Facebook.
Targeted Victory bragged about local news coverage on the fake TikTok trend that it was able to procure, and helped spread the fake challenge. The group kept an internal document that archives negative press that they received from this and other trends, such as the devious licks trend, a school property vandalization challenge that did exist on the platform, but actually originated on Facebook.
The Post obtained emails from Targeted Victory employees that discussed ways to spread negative stories about TikTok.
While Meta is the current punching bag, TikTok is the real threat as a foreign owned app that is #1 in sharing data that young teens are using, a director at Targeted Victory wrote in an email.
Employees imagine possible headlines, such as "From dances to danger: how TikTok has become the most harmful social media space for kids."
An email from a staffer was sent to Congress and other state officials to deter them from introducing legislation targeting Facebook. As a result of the revelations brought to light by Facebook's whistle blower, the social media giant Meta has recently been the subject of increased scrutiny.
Targeted Victory has received hundreds of millions of dollars from Republican campaigns. Some of the stories Targeted Victory helped to spread caused Congresspeople and local officials to publicly share their concern about TikTok.
The move from Facebook is not completely shocking. TikTok is viewed as a threat by the social network. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has used questionable tactics to take on competitors before. A Facebook spokesman told the Post that they believe all platforms, including TikTok, should face a level of scrutiny consistent with their growing success.
TikTok is backed by a company that can take on Facebook. A company spokesman told the Washington Post that it was deeply concerned by the report, but it will be interesting to see how TikTok responds.
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