The TikTok-tivists are at it again.
Thousands of users of the popular video app flocked to the Apple App Store in the last few days to flood U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign app with negative reviews. On Wednesday alone 700 negative reviews were left on the Official Trump 2020 app and 26 positive ones, according to tracking firm Sensor Tower.
TikTok fans are retaliating for Trump’s threats of banning the app, which is owned by China’s Bytedance Ltd. and is hugely popular in the U.S., especially among teens. The thought of taking away a key social and entertainment hub in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to outrage.
“For Gen Z and Millennials, TikTok is our clubhouse and Trump threatened it,” said Yori Blacc, a 19-year-old TikTok user in California who joined in the app protest. “If you’re going to mess with us, we will mess with you.”
Blacc said the movement gained steam Wednesday when a popular TikTok user, DeJuan Booker, called on his 750,000 followers to seek revenge. He posted a step-by-step primer on how to degrade the app’s rating, notching 5.6 million views. “Gen Z don’t go down without a fight,” said Booker, who goes by @unusualbeing on TikTok. “Let’s go to war.”
The efforts to push the app low enough so that Apple will remove it from the app store may be misguided. Apple doesn’t delete apps based on their popularity. The App Store may review those that violate its guidelines or are outdated, but not if their ratings sink. A similar tactic was tried in April to protest Google Classroom by kids frustrated with quarantine home-schooling.
But young people are looking for ways to make their voices heard, even if some of them can’t yet vote. Last month, many young people organized through TikTok to sign up to attend Trump’s first post-shutdown campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but then didn’t show up. The Trump campaign denied the online organizing effort contributed to lower-than-expected attendance.
The Trump campaign and Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. TikTok was experiencing connectivity issues on Thursday, according to Downdector, which measures web traffic.
Trump’s re-election smartphone app is a big part of the president’s unrivaled digital operation and was meant to circumvent tech companies like Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. and give the campaign a direct line to supporters. The app has helped the campaign engage Trump’s die-hard supporters, especially in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, by feeding them his latest tweets and promoting virtual events. Supporters can donate to the president’s campaign or earn rewards for recruiting friends like VIP seats to rallies or photos with the president.
The Official Trump 2020 app has been downloaded more than 500,000 times on Google’s Android store as of June 15. Apple doesn’t publish information on downloads.
Reviews with titles such as “Terrible App” or “Do Not Download!” have been flooding the App Store since late June. Official Trump 2020 now has more than 103,000 one-star reviews for an overall rating of 1.2.
But the uptick of activity has also caused the app to rise in rankings. Users have to download the app to review it, vaulting it to second place on the Apple store from No. 486 on Tuesday, according to Sensor Tower.
“Do I think that this is going to fundamentally change the election? No,” said Tim Lim, a veteran Democratic digital strategist. “But it goes to show that they are just as susceptible to these mass actions as anyone else. Trump is starting to see what it feels like to have a massive online army committed to defeating him.”
Trump earlier this week said his administration is considering banning TikTok as one way to retaliate against China over its handling of the coronavirus. Trump’s comments came after Secretary of State Michael Pompeo told Americans not to download the app unless they want to see their private information fall into “the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.” Bytedance is also facing a U.S. national security review for its acquisition of startup Musical.ly. It has denied allegations that it poses a threat to U.S. national security.
Trump didn’t offer specifics about a potential decision and Pompeo seemed to walk back the idea of a ban in a later statement, saying that the U.S. efforts to protect American consumers’ data don’t relate to any one particular company.
Many TikTok users say they care less about potential Chinese snooping and more about Trump taking away their digital hangout. In the U.S., TikTok has been downloaded more than 165 million times, according to Sensor Tower.
“I don’t believe Trump is trying to take TikTok away because of national security, but more to retaliate against activism on the app and all the videos about him that drag him through the mud,” said Darius Jackson, an 18-year-old TikTok user in Champaign, Illinois, who asked his followers Wednesday to give Trump’s app a one-star rating.
“This is the first year I’ll be able to vote and I think activism on TikTok is going to make a big difference,” Jackson said.
—With assistance from Mark Gurman.
Correction, July 10
The original version of this story misstated the name of a city in Illinois. It is Champaign, not Champagne.
Jim Wright
Shared with Public
Trump: "Now that we have witnessed it on a large scale basis, and firsthand, Virtual Learning has proven to be TERRIBLE compared to In School, or On Campus, Learning. Not even close! Schools must be open in the Fall. If not open, why would the Federal Government give Funding? It won’t!!!"
The President doesn't have the authority to grant or withhold funding for schools.
Also, why wouldn't the federal government be assisting states in IMPROVING online classrooms and learning? This is the Information Age, our children LIVE online, we should be leading the way on this as a nation. We should be installing high speed internet into every household, connecting every classroom and every kid, turning the whole damn world into a school.
Hell, in Alaska, some kids are educated by teachers who travel to the remote villages and homesteads deep in untamed country via bush planes, floatplanes, ATVs, and even dog sleds.
And somehow, those kids get an education.
In Australia, in the remote Outback, they used to do it via radio, and now via the internet. Same in places like Africa and South American rainforests. We should be leading on this, expanding education opportunities instead of trying to keep kids contained in some 1850s education model.
But even with all of America's technology and alleged "can-do" spirit, here's Trump.
Of course, this really isn't about distance learning at all.
If we keep schools closed, then it's an admission we haven't got ahead of the pandemic and that Trump's Administration has utterly failed to contain this thing and is so lacking in imagination and innovation that they can't do anything other than try to hide that fact.
Trump can't admit any of that.
Not before November anyway.
After the election, if kids die, so what?
![Image may contain: 1 person, text that says 'Jake Maccoby @jdmaccoby [Donald Trump, Titanic captain] 1. There is no iceberg 2. We won't hit the iceberg 3. We barely touched the iceberg 4. Nobody could've seen the iceberg 5. These deaths mean my plan worked 6. I'm the best captain ever'](https://scontent-bos3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p526x296/107094302_1211185692584563_1039627551621136190_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=X24yVsFOFEkAX9RUiI5&_nc_ht=scontent-bos3-1.xx&_nc_tp=6&oh=14482b0fe83cc3478b4190a8eb3a5082&oe=5F3001EE)
According to the protester who caught the interaction on camera, Joe Smothers, some of the counter-protesters may have been associated with the far right organization the Proud Boys, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Proud Boys and the armed militia planned to disrupt the protest and have been putting out a call to arms for the past week,” said Smothers, 20, who was demonstrating in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Members of the Proud Boys had been flashing the "OK" sign throughout the day, Smothers added.
It is not the first time that a police officer has been caught flashing the hate symbol during demonstrations protesting the death of George Floyd. The NYPD opened an investigation after an officer appeared to make the symbol during a protest in June.
The footage, which was streamed live on social media, shows a police officer wearing a mask while observing counter-protesters during Saturday’s demonstration. The officer then walks towards one of the counter-protesters and flashes the "OK" hand gesture, which is used among extremist circles to signal "white power," according to the Anti Defamation League. The counter-protester is then seen patting the officer on the back.
"We are aware of the video and investigating," Capt. Timothy R. Fox of the Oregon State Police told NBC News on Sunday.
According to the protester who caught the interaction on camera, Joe Smothers, some of the counter-protesters may have been associated with the far right organization the Proud Boys, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Proud Boys and the armed militia planned to disrupt the protest and have been putting out a call to arms for the past week,” said Smothers, 20, who was demonstrating in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Members of the Proud Boys had been flashing the "OK" sign throughout the day, Smothers added.
It is not the first time that a police officer has been caught flashing the hate symbol during demonstrations protesting the death of George Floyd. The NYPD opened an investigation after an officer appeared to make the symbol during a protest in June.
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/police-investigate-video-appearing-to-show-officer-flash-white-power-sign-at-oregon-protest/283-2ec115d6-40c0-404b-b8a6-15f38b7fb981?fbclid=IwAR13cMk8vYQBCHOfVdXfnonzk_UQRmlUpmiPnSVkTWKFCNTpBv7wM4pz74A
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