SuperPAC, the main campaign arm of US President Joe Biden, is raising millions of dollars to compete with Republican Donald Trump’s “social media machine,” according to Reuters.
The previously unreported effort by Future Forward USA Action underscores widespread concern among Democrats and Biden’s donors. They worry that the president and his campaign are losing the viral video war against the Republican Party.
Democrats claim the Palo-Alto-based SuperPAC, backed by tech giants like Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and LinkedIn founder Reed Hoffman, is raising at least $10 million. It will help better understand the algorithms that help Trump and his allies dominate vertical video platforms.
Many popular social networks, such as TikTok and Instagram, use short vertical videos as their primary format. They have allegedly created a network of “influencers” who use the platforms to reach millions of Americans with content.
Future Forward joined Democratic groups Way to Win and Hub Project last month to host 140 influencers for a three-day event called “Trending Up,” organisers reported. Future Forward’s current efforts were focused on Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok, according to sources.
Future Forward is around to help solve problems, and TikTok is a problem and the group is reasonably trying to solve that problem.
Social media influence
The social media battle could have a huge impact on the race between Biden and Trump, which polls show is very close. Since February, when Biden’s campaign headquarters officially joined the TikTok platform, it had posted more than 200 publications, amassing just over 380,000 followers. Trump, for his part, joined TikTok about a fortnight ago, but had already accumulated 6.4 million followers.
Meanwhile, fake accounts posting about the US presidential election multiplied on social media platform X, Reuters reported earlier this year. Analysts at Israeli technology company Cyabra, which uses a type of artificial intelligence called machine learning to identify fake accounts, found that 15% of X accounts praising Trump and criticising Biden were fake. The report also found that 7% of accounts praising Biden and criticising Trump are fake.
Social media plays a crucial role in US news consumption, especially among young people. According to a February study by the Pew Research Center, half of US adults get their news from social media at least sometimes.
