A BBC project investigates the election content promoted by social media by tracking dozens of phones.
Disinformation reporter and social media correspondentMisinformation about Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak is among the content promoted to young voters' TikTok feeds
Videos which have racked up hundreds of thousands of views have promoted unfounded rumours that a major scandal prompted Rishi Sunak to call an early election andthat Sir Keir Starmer was responsible for the failure to prosecute serial paedophile Jimmy Savile. The videos were spotted as part of the BBC's Undercover Voters project, which has created profiles for 24 fictional people on all the major social media sites, based onIn a satirical deepfake, Rishi Sunak appeared to say he would be "proper gutted" if he lost - but some users were confused about whether it was real
TikTok has boomed since the last election. According to media regulator Ofcom, it was the fastest-growing source of news in the UK for the second year in a row in 2023 - used by 10% of adults in this way. One in 10 teenagers say it is their most important news source. Messages such as “vote Reform UK” were shared repeatedly in the comments of many videos, much more than those I saw in support of any other party. TikTok users have begun to notice the comments, with many calling the posters “Reform bots”, suggesting they could be fake, automated accounts.
They also include a video of Cilla Black singing Surprise Surprise from the official Labour profile - with a caption saying “POV: Rishi Sunak turning up on your 18th birthday to send you to war”. Alongside the video, some users had posted threatening comments towards Mr Sunak, but the 16-year-old said she did not think anyone would actually want to harm a politician.
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