Most of the Republican candidates for the 2024 presidential election have spurned TikTok, which has become a symbol of Chinese surveillance among the American right. But at least one GOP presidential hopeful is embracing TikTok: After getting a bump from Jake Paul, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has started connecting with young voters through short-form videos.
Ramaswamy previously described TikTok as “digital fentanyl,” but he changed his tune after sitting down for dinner with Paul on September 10. The influencer-turned-boxer told Ramaswamy that TikTok is a critical vector for reaching young voters, and that convinced the 38-year-old businessman to soften his stance. Ramaswamy compared TikTok’s controversial security record to that of Airbnb, an American company that shares U.S. user data with China.
Paul and Ramaswamy danced together in a video shared on the creator’s TikTok account. The younger Paul brother said that he encouraged Ramaswamy to join TikTok in order to forge more connections between politics and youth culture. “It’s bizarre that in this day and age our presidents have no connection with us via social. Only the occasional tweets,” Paul wrote. “Meet Vivek Ramaswamy.”
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@jakepaul Getting Vivek on Tik Tok because i believe our politicians of the future should connect with gen z and milennials on social where we all live and breathe. Its bizarre that in this day and age our presidents have no connection with us via social. Only the occasional tweets. Meet @Vivek Ramaswamy ♬ original sound – GenosPicks
Ramaswamy expressed similar ideas in his first TikTok upload. “We’re in this to reach young people, to energize young people,” he said. “And to do that we can’t just hide.”
It would seem that Ramaswamy can’t hide from his political views, either. Though he is attempting to position himself as a voice of young people, the TikTok masses have called out his typical conservative viewpoints on COVID-19 and climate change.
Ramaswamy has also called to raise the minimum voting age to 25, which would disenfranchise many of the voters he’s trying to reach through his videos. Commenters highlighted that hypocrisy after seeing Ramaswamy’s first TikTok upload. (They had some lewder responses, too.)
Though he’s going beyond most of his competitors when it comes to youth outreach, Ramaswamy may need to update his platform if he hopes to become a TikTok favorite. In the meantime, he’ll attempt to ride the Jake Paul bump as far as it will take him.
