Political trolling on TikTok

Abstract

Political discourse on TikTok is on the rise, but research on the extent and nature of political trolling on the platform is lagging. Addressing this gap, we examine political trolling on TikTok by and towards Democrats and Republicans. Based on content analysis of over 8000 comments and posts, we found that trolling comments on TikTok are more humoristic than malevolent, particularly on Democrats’ posts, and that more trolling comments target posts by Democrats than posts by Republicans. We also found that trolling comments target their own party and politicians more often than they target their political opponents, and that more trolling comments that target such posts are humoristic, while more trolling comments that target their opponents are malevolent. Even though the extent of trolling comments on Republicans’ posts is higher than on Democrats’ posts, Democrats are the target of trolling more often, both on their own posts and on Republicans’ posts. Furthermore, Republicans’ posts target Democrats more often than they promote their own agenda, but Democrats’ posts promote their own agenda more often than they target Republicans. We contribute evidence of political trolling on TikTok that reflects the US’ asymmetric politics and politainment, and that raises the need to conduct more nuanced research on the relationships between trolling perpetrators and their targets.