Is Joe Biden’s ‘nasty’ TikTok boost or hindered by Dirk Brandon’s emergence?

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In Joe Biden’s TikTok debut in time for the Super Bowl in February, the president answered rapid-fire questions like, “Chiefs or Niners?” (Nor did he pick the Eagles because his wife is a “Philadelphia girl.”) And flashed the Dirk Brandon meme. He has over 10 million views and by pure standards, this video was not a huge flop. But to many of his Gen Z viewers, it felt “offensive” and even pandering, in the words of a favorite TikTok diss. To make matters worse, after Israel attacked Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, a TikTok with the caption “LOL, hey everyone” went viral. Biden’s joke outraged users, with comments flooding the post, asking, “What’s wrong with Rafa?”

“I don’t want the president to be a TikTok influencer,” read one article’s headline. USA Today Editorial. 1 (real) influencer Said CNN felt the president’s meme attempts were “performative.” A big welcome to this app, but it wasn’t. But Biden’s team continued posting.

Biden’s TikTok account “Biden Harris HQ” has released more than 150 videos since February, garnering 3.9 million likes and more than 313,000 followers. That’s more than Maxwell Frost (570,000 likes, 96,000 followers), who became a first-generation Z congressman in 2023, but ahead of Bernie Sanders’ 11.4 million. That’s less than a fraction of the likes and 987,000 followers Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has on the app. Congressman Jeff Jackson, a Republican from North Carolina with 2.2 million TikTok followers, is one of the most high-profile politicians on the app. His posts almost always have more than his 1 million views, and only 11 of Biden’s videos have had more than his 1 million views.