President Biden won’t answer questions on Russia’s war on Ukraine —but Khalil Greene will. Esteemed TikTok influencer and Peabody shoo-in, Greene has more than 500,000+ followers who enjoy such content as “Don’t Mock Black Sorority Traditions” and “The Problem With the ‘Do It To It’ Challenge.” Greene, 21, is here to help disseminate White House talking points.
Gen Z to the rescue —feeling better now?
Greene was one of 30 TikTok influencers who hopped on a Zoom call with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and National Security Council staffers where they, “briefed the influencers about the United States’ strategic goals in the region and answered questions on distributing aid to Ukrainians, working with NATO and how the United States would react to a Russian use of nuclear weapons.”
TikTok influencers. White House briefings. Think about that next time anyone takes a shot at Fox News’ Peter Doocy for asking straightforward questions at a White House press briefing. The White House treats 21-year old, far-left know-nothings with more respect.
According to the Washington Post, “The White House has been closely watching TikTok’s rise as a dominant news source, leading to its decision to approach a select group of the platform’s most influential names….Kahlil Greene, 21, a creator with more than 534,000 followers on TikTok, said he wasn’t surprised when an invitation arrived in his email inbox. ‘People in my generation get all our information from TikTok,’ he said. ‘It’s the first place we’re searching up new topics and learning about things.’ So, he figured, it made sense that the Biden administration would engage people like him on the platform.”
The Left continues to cater to Twitter and TikTok mobs, giving the relatively small number of Americans an undeserved and dangerous amount of power over public opinion. Here’s an inconvenient stat from Pew: fewer than one-in-ten Americans say they regularly get news from Reddit (7%), TikTok (6%), LinkedIn (4%), Snapchat (4%), WhatsApp (3%) and Twitch (1%).
Here’s another stat that reinforces what a waste of time this initiative was: in the U.S. TikTok has about 80 million monthly active users. 60% are female, 40% are male. 60% are between the ages of 16-24. 26% are between the ages 25-44
With all due respect to females between 16 and 24, is this a group the White House feels really needs to understand what’s happening in Ukraine? I have a feeling, most teens are on there for the viral dance crazes and quick laughs —not White House briefings.
“Jules Terpak, a Gen Z content creator who makes TikTok essays about digital culture, said the White House’s decision to engage creators such as she was essential in helping to stop the spread of misinformation,” WaPo reports. “Those who have an audience can ideally set the tone for how others decide to assess and amplify what they see online,” she said.
And there it is —the scariest part of this whole initiative. The White House has a version of the truth and that version of the truth is passed on to influencers who amplify it and, before you know it, you’re trying to explain to your teenager why Putin isn’t responsible for gas prices.
Please, Ms. Psaki —the Americans that really want this information, aren’t on TikTok and Twitter: they’re watching you mistreat Peter Doocy at the White House press briefing.
Time to change your approach.
