Gas prices are at all-time highs, inflation continues to set fresh four-decade records, Russia is pummeling Ukraine, Kamala Harris is laughing like a hyena, and the White House is briefing TikTok influencers, because of course that's what the Biden administration would be focused on.
According to The Washington Post, the White House hosted a Zoom call on Thursday to push its messaging — which has included blaming Putin for inflation caused by Biden's economic and energy policies — to more than two-dozen TikTok stars. "Jen Psaki 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," explained the Post's report.
"After the call, several influencers said they felt more empowered to debunk misinformation and communicate effectively about the crisis," The Post continued. "TikTok has been overrun with false and misleading news since the war broke out, and, on Thursday, the company said it finally would begin labeling state-controlled media on its platform," the report added.
Ironic that TikTok would begin labeling state-controlled media given the fact that the app itself is state-controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
But while some TikTok stars felt empowered by the White House's attempt to turn them into Biden messaging propagandists, others were not so thrilled. One invited participant "said that he thought the overall tone of the briefing was too soft and that officials dodged hard questions. 'The energy of the call felt like a press briefing for kindergartners,' he said."
And, perhaps something that the White House didn't account for, young woke TikTok influencers are not always keen to take governments at their word. One attendee released a video on the platform following the Biden administration's briefing that included him "calling out the Biden administration for not 'acknowledging its role in other occupations and invasions around the world.'"
It's not the first time the septuagenarian president has decided to make a push for the youths, as "Kooper the Gen-Z Intern" made a TikTok with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki last August to push vaccinations and tout the Biden administration's COVID policy. And who could forget the cringeworthy conversation at the White House between Olivia Rodrigo and Anthony Fauci (where is he, by the way?) where the singer read fawning compliments about Dr. Fauci.