While I was “productively” scrolling on TikTok, I came across a video by @haley2024 — a fan account for Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley. It was an edit of Haley speaking during the Republican primary debate.
“If you want something said, ask a man,” Haley said in the video, quoting Margaret Thatcher. “If you want something done, ask a woman.”
The song “Maneater” by Nelly Furtado played behind Haley’s words as different clips of Haley smiling and posing with fans flashed across my screen accumulating three million likes. I couldn’t help but smile at her apparent, powerful femininity as I opened up the comments. But my eyebrows raised as I read what people were saying.
She’s got my vote.
President 2024.
Now I’m not into politics but I hope she wins.
Twenty-nine thousand more comments asserted their newfound political support for Haley’s “campaign” all because of her requote to a top-10 hit song from the 1980s. The clip didn’t include anything about Haley’s political policies, thoughts on reducing carbon emissions, stance on abortion or plans for government spending.
Young people may believe that they are politically “in-the-know” due to surface-level political social media posts but they should prioritize finding reliable, unbiased news outlets, instead of hopping on the bandwagon after seeing a 15-second, doctored video.
The video is just one of the many biased political posts on social media that omit crucial details and spread biased or false narratives.
Similar to the Haley fan account, on Instagram Vivek Ramaswamy —another Republican presidential candidate— gained support by simply posting a compilation of himself with audio clips of people praising his ability to “take on the most difficult subjects” while “Superhero (Heroes and Villains)” by Chris Brown, Future and Metro Boomin played in the background.
Political information on social media isn’t just posts praising politicians but also diminishing them. TikTok account @genzforchange posted a video of “Ron DeSantis Being Inhuman For 30 Seconds Straight.” The video was just exaggerated clips of DeSantis laughing and his facial expressions during speeches, it didn’t include any inhumane policies or opinions he had.
Political social media accounts can also create posts without proper context to purposely distort the truth. This was done recently by multiple accounts on X, Facebook, and Instagram, that posted a video of Biden supposedly admitting to selling state secrets at a meeting with India’s prime minister that has been posted. The viral clip, however, conveniently cuts off right before Biden makes it clear that it was only a joke.
There was no educational value in any of these social media posts — none of them helped me learn critical information regarding the event or person they were about. Instead, they merely showed shallow, superficial and sometimes just outright wrong information.
Teenagers are affected the most by these unreliable posts, it’s really easy to just scroll on TikTok when you’re tired instead of making the effort to look up reliable sources and learn from them. According to a Common Sense Media study, 54% of teenagers get their news from social media, and over half of those teens specifically use YouTube for news. However, 60% of teens who get news from YouTube say they are more likely to get it from “celebrities, influencers and personalities.”
While some may think that social media is a reliable source of political information, it has been repeatedly proven that it’s not. News on social media is often misinformed, exaggerated and biased to the point of distorting the truth.
Reliable news organizations adhere to strict journalistic standards — they fact-check, verify sources and have multiple accountability mechanisms. On the other hand, I could post that Joe Biden is going to start World War III on TikTok or Instagram without consequence.
Relying on social media for news causes teenagers to have shallow and incomplete views of the news around them. So take five minutes to open Apple News to read about the most recent Trump allegations instead of just believing a random X account or watching a TikTok compilation of his mug shot.
According to Common Sense Media, two in three teens who get news directly from news organizations say doing so has helped them better understand current events.
I’ve started seeking out news sources such as AP News, The New York Times and The Washington Post, and resisting the urge to just click on TikTok for information. I already feel more educated about topics like how Maui is handling the repercussions of the recent fires and the details of Trump’s indictment.
With important events like the 2024 election only a year away, it’s critical for young people to be well-informed. Quick and oftentimes biased or even untrue social media posts have too much power over our opinions.
So I urge you to educate yourself with a reliable news source instead of just watching Instagram reels to form opinions about the current leaders and events in our country.
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