“I’m communicating with upwards of 70 people, all from political TikTok, about what’s going on,” said Ashleigh Hunniford, 17, a high school senior in Colorado. “I’m relying on different sources that are online. I’m constantly checking Twitter for other people’s predictions and talking to other people about what they think is going to happen in real time.”
Many were wary of jumping the gun before outcomes were fully known, and relied on the data-driven calls of traditional media. “The next few days are going to be hectic, and it is my responsibility and other big creators’ responsibility to not mislead people into believing that the election has gone one way without having states or all the votes counted,” said Harry Sisson, 18, known online as @typical_democrat. “It’s incumbent on us to be accurate. For the next few days I plan on my content being around how states are looking if they’re not called yet, and what those empty states mean.”
Aidan Kohn-Murphy, 16, a founder and lead organizer from TikTok for Biden, a group of more than 480 creators, planned an elaborate election night rollout for the account’s million followers. The account live streamed throughout the night, updating the stream’s title with news like “lead in Arizona.” When The Associated Press called a state, TikTok stars in that state would create a custom video announcing the news, which was promoted on the @TikTokForBiden handle.
That doesn’t mean creators weren’t treating Tuesday night as a big event. Mr. Mooneyhan, of the Libertarian Hype House, planned his election night stream outfit in advance. He donned a brown fur coat and gold circular glasses for the occasion. “It’s my drip outfit,” he said. “It’s what I wear when I want to be dripped out.” Many TikTokers wore campaign merch. One person showed up on stream in bunny ears, and several male influencers streamed shirtless.
“Compared to mainstream media, our livestream where we have people come in and interact is a much more fun and comfortable environment to consume election information. You feel like you’re a part of what is going on,” Mr. Mooneyhan said.
MemePAC, a youth-led, F.E.C.-registered super PAC that opposes Mr. Trump, hosted a livestream on TikTok displaying a website created by Jackie Ni, 18, a founder of the group. The site pulled data directly from The New York Times election map and used an Among Us-style animation to eject Mr. Trump from the White House for every 10,000 popular votes that Joe Biden received.