A TikTok user has prompted thousands to leave one-star reviews on Donald Trump’s official campaign app -- claiming the Apple App Store will delete it if the average rating is below one star.
On Google Play, the app has plummeted to 2.3 stars with more than 31,000 total reviews. On the Apple App Store, it has 1.2 stars with over 74,000 reviews.
One reviewer even said: “Who came from TikTok.”
The TikTok user DeJuan Booker said in the video that the call-to-arms is in response to Donald Trump’s proposal to ban TikTok.
The president said he planned to ban all Chinese-based apps over allegations Beijing is using them to spy on users. The proposal comes as Chinese-owned TikTok controversially pulls out of Hong Kong over the new security laws. India has already banned the app over national security concerns.
“If they do, for whatever reason decide to ban it, there isn’t much we can do besides move to another platform,” Booker said.
“But Gen Z doesn’t go down without a fight."
Booker then goes through step by step on how to leave a review for the app.
Recent reviews on Donald Trump's campaign app. Source: Dateline
The video has 4.1 million views, 1.5 million “likes,” 53,000 comments, and almost half a million shares.
SBS Dateline contacted Apple to determine if the company removes apps with low ratings, but didn’t get a response by the time of publication.
The viral moment comes weeks after TikTok users were credited with low attendance at a Trump rally in Tulsa. A viral video on the app encouraged users to register online for the event, with the aim of organisers overestimating attendance and discouraging genuine attendees to go.
The White House had promised the much-hyped event would be flooded with up to 100,000 people.
President Donald Trump arrives on stage to speak at a campaign rally at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Source: AAP
On the day of the rally, an outside “overflow” area was dismantled after it became clear the attendance wouldn’t warrant the extra stage. Large sections of the 19,000-capacity venue were empty.
The Trump campaign has been adamant they were not duped but was victim to “fake news media” for reporting on health concerns around the event.
"These phoney ticket requests never factor into our thinking," Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement.
Is this new?
Dr Jolynna Sinanan is from the University of Sydney and is an expert on digital media. She says this type of online protest has its roots in Anonymous -- a decentralised activist collective known for its cyber-attacks on corporations and political institutions.
“The precedent of Anonymous when it started wasn’t the anti-capitalist movement it is today. It was more-so a group of hackers wreaking havoc,” she said.
Recently, Anonymous claimed responsibility for a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on the Minneapolis police department website after the death of George Floyd.
While young people during the Arab Spring and now in the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement have used the internet as a tool to mobilise a political movement, this type of action is less specific to one cause and uses the “language” of the platform to create momentum.
“It brings together genres of communication, youth and friends. On Facebook, for example, the genre of communication is memes, humour and banter,” she said.
“The genre of communication on TikTok is becoming a form of social-political action in itself.”
Dr Sinanan believes this type of political action isn’t necessarily driven by TikTok the platform but it helps that it is user friendly with millions of Gen Z users.
Are Gen Z more politically active?
By the end of 2020, Gen Zers around the world would have collectively endured mass lockdowns, historic unemployment and race-related protests -- as well as the unprecedented use of the internet in daily life.
“With the unprecedented scale of the use of digital media, these have now become compelling places for political discussions and for young people to become politically active,” Dr Sinanan said.
This is taking different forms. For example, the evolution of the “Karen” meme has become a tool to discuss the weaponising of middle-aged white female privilege.
Dr Sinanan said that Gen Z is more engaged in political discussion than other generations but time-will-tell if they are more politically active.
“This also depends on demographic influences,” she said.
“We have seen that in the #blacklivesmatter movement, youth have been at the forefront.”
