– I intend to be on Tiktok at least until the local elections. That’s what Erna Solberg said in her first Tiktok video earlier this summer. Since then, she has posted a lot about Høgre’s policy. – Because far too few young people exercise their right to vote, she explains on the channel. Erna answers important and less important questions on her Tiktok account. Photo: SCREEN DUMP And Erna is right. At the previous municipal election, only half of the 18- to 30-year-old cast their vote. Tiktok is an easy way to reach the young home sitters, Høgre believes. – We are sending a signal that we take the young voter group seriously, says Nikolai Langfeldt Carlsen, who is digital manager at Høgre. SV and MDG are also active on the app, as well as local politicians and youth groups from several other parties. SV is one of the parties with an active Tiktok account. Photo: SCREEN DUMP – Problematic But not everyone has jumped on the bandwagon. Earlier this year, Venstre proposed to the other parties that everyone should drop the app completely during the election campaign. – It wasn’t a slam dunk for our proposal, so to speak, says Ingvild Wetrhus Thorsvik. She is a parliamentary representative for the Liberal Party and believes that Tiktok in the election campaign sends the wrong signal to young people: – We do not want to contribute to voters having to turn to Tiktok for information. It is an app that has significant security challenges, and about which we know very little, she says. Ingvild Wetrhus Thorsvik (V) will not encourage young people to use Tiktok. Photo: Baard Salvesen The left is right that Tiktok is a controversial app we know little about, says Ragnhild Tvergrov Skare. She is the information coordinator for Utsyn, the center for security and total defence. Skare calls Tiktok “problematic”. – He collects huge amounts of data, and we don’t know who has access to the data. Unfortunately, Tiktok does not have a good track record when it comes to taking care of elections, she says. In addition, the app is owned by a Chinese company – and China is a country with which we do not have security cooperation. There are divided opinions on whether Tiktok is safe to use in an election campaign. Photo: Kiichiro Sato / AP But this does not worry the digital boss at Høgre. – Erna has her own Tiktok phone which is not connected to the system of the Storting. The mobile is also never connected to the Stortinget’s wifi and is switched off when not in use. – Are they not sending the wrong signal by using the Tiktok app? – Not the way we do it today. Can be decisive Tiktok or not Tiktok. How much can it mean? A lot, thinks Ragnhild Tvergrov Skare from Utsyn. – The party that is not there may experience losing many young voters, she says, and refers to the election in Finland earlier this year: – Around half of the young people who had Tiktok and voted during the election said that Tiktok influenced what they chose to vote for . Ragnhild Tvergrov Skare believes Tiktok can be decisive in the municipal elections. Last autumn, two parties that did not exist before the election campaign were elected to the Latvian parliament. It happened against the background of the election campaign they had on Tiktok, Skare explains. There could be a “Tiktok election” here at home too, she thinks. And the Left is painfully aware of that. – It creates a bias in the election campaign. We will not be able to reach the young voters in the same way as the parties that use Tiktok, says Wetrhus Thorsvik. She calls it a “decision of principle” that the Liberal Party is dropping Tiktok. Tiktok was important for young Finnish voters in this year’s election campaign. Photo: HEIKKI SAUKKOMAA / AFP Free for local politicians But several of the parties that officially say no to Tiktok can still be found on the app in one form or another. Even Unge Venstre has a local team on Tiktok. The Labor Party has no official account and has advised its politicians to ditch Tiktok. – It’s about security, says party secretary Kjersti Stenseng. Nevertheless, both local teams, youth teams and individual politicians are present on the app. – They can make their own assessments and priorities. For AUF’s part, it is a great channel to reach many young people, says Stenseng. Sverre Uhlving on the Tiktok account of the Stavanger Labor Party and AUF leader Astrid Hoem on her own account. Photo: SCREEN DUMP If you want to know more about the use of Tiktok in the election campaign, you can listen to Arena on news Radio.
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Think Tiktok can be decisive for the election – news Culture and entertainment
