During the U.S. presidential election of 2020, TikTok, an app known for
lip-synching and remixes of popular media, became a tool for ludic civic
engagement, ambivalent critique and event-commentary. More specifically,
TikTokers practiced types of engagement such as playful political
performance, in which they express sentiments about a candidate by
dancing or singing. They also practice remix as ambivalent critique by
juxtaposing news clips and music to comment on current events. These
examples evoke genres of ludic civic engagement such as flash mobs and
tactical clowning while also exhibiting qualities specific to TikTok. The
rhetorical power of playfulness and remix lies in distorting, exaggerating,
and dramatizing; on TikTok, these practices are mainstream rather than
fringe, raising questions about the contribution of the platform to political
discourse.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.