Breathe
By Thelma Elena Pérez
This information is part of the results of the research "TikTok as a new technopolitical communication platform for the 2024 presidential campaign in Mexico", developed by the writer of this column and by Ms. Cyntia Cerón Hernández, professors of the Bachelor's Degree in Digital Communication and co-coordinators of the Media and Information Literacy Laboratory (LABMIL) of the Universidad Intercontinental. She is also part of the inter-institutional research project "Configuration of electoral political communication in socio-digital networks during the 2024 presidential campaign in Mexico from the digital rhetoric".
The objective of the study is to investigate the use of TikTok as a marketing and political communication platform for pre-candidates and candidates for the presidency of Mexico in 2024, targeting the country's young population. Through a mixed methodology, we analyzed the relevant content of official accounts of pre-candidates and candidates (interactions, topics, strategic functions and self-representation of contenders), among others.
The current social and informative context of the digital media ecosystem favors infodemia through the proliferation of fake news, which are necessary to verify and spread according to structural and functional particularities of digital media, such as algorithmic programming biased and looped according to users' consumption habits and prosumerism (action of consuming and producing content) of users.
To the above, cyber troops are added where trolls and bots amplify hate speech or manipulated content as ideological polarization strategies to mobilize public opinion, limit freedom of the press, political activism or deteriorate information, questioning and learning processes, at least in socio-digital networks and entertainment platforms. At the same time, an incomplete and poorly publicized regulation of digital media in Mexico.
According to the National Electoral Institute, young Mexicans between 18 and 29 years of age make up 26.2 million of the electoral roll, of which 3.9 million could vote for the first time in these elections (Redacción, 2024). Young people, who experience a complex paradox that implies constituting the key population sector for the development of the country and facing a substantial precariousness in the access to rights such as education, health, employment, security and justice. This situation fuels a significant depoliticization in youth, translated into low levels of trust in public institutions and little political participation, according to data from the 2018 election.
In this context, TikTok is the most used entertainment platform globally and nationally by young people (Global: 1,218M and Mexico: 74.2M) (Silverio, 2024) who, based on functional and aesthetic parameters established by the platform, access and create content through videos from 3 seconds to 10 minutes to generate experiences and facilitate the interaction of users, including brands, companies, organizations, etc.
TikTok operates through algorithms that identify audiovisual elements of impact for users (such as musical themes or voiceovers) and, based on this, orients and biases the exposure of videos to users who consume content with similar components. Thus, it makes it easier for different videos to appear in the content proposal that TikTok makes to users, for example, videos of political figures, thanks to the strategic use of fashion elements.
As in other countries, the Mexican political sphere understood that TikTok is fundamental in the communication and socialization of young people and, starting in 2022, contenders for the pre-candidacy of the Morena party for the presidency of the country, began broadcasting videos on the platform. Thus, Claudia Sheinbaum and Marcelo Ebrard had greater activity on TikTok from October 2022 to December 2023, according to our analysis. And, subsequently, he and the official candidates do the corresponding to "connect with young audiences".
What is the relevance of the contenders for the Mexican presidency in 2024 presenting themselves to the youth on TikTok?
The relevance of TikTok in these elections lies in the fact that it is a key source of information for young people to get to know the candidates for the first time and eventually decide whether or not to exercise their right to vote. Analyzing the political communication of the pre-campaigns and campaigns for the presidency of Mexico in TikTok, involves examining the articulation of a complex assembly that integrates, at least, political parties, government institutions, marketing and political communication agencies, audiovisual production and young people, who interact and prosume on the platform, all of them adjusting to the functional and aesthetic parameters of the platform.
Therefore, it is necessary to review the quality of the messages that political figures direct specifically towards young people in order to know, for example, the co-responsibility of candidates in information (or disinformation) processes based on the completeness and veracity of data, sources, and arguments that do not encourage the polarization of public opinion.
In the next installments we will delve into how TikTok is being used in the current electoral process, and can its use contribute (or not) to democracy?
References
Editor (January 23, 2024). Electoral roll exceeds 100 million; young people in the majority. Animal Político.
Silverio, M. (March 9, 2024). Most used social networks in 2024. PrimeWeb.
* Thelma Elena Pérez Álvarez teaches digital communication, advertising and marketing at universities in Spain and Mexico. She actively works for the Mexican State to guarantee the human right to media and information literacy.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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