White House briefed top TikTokers on war in Ukraine

White House officials gathered 30 TikTok stars on Thursday for a briefing over Zoom about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, reports The Washington Post.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki and National Security Council staffers were on hand to outline the U.S.’s goals for the region and answer questions about topics like the distribution of aid to Ukraine, working with NATO and how the U.S. would react if Russia used nuclear weapons.

“We recognize this is a critically important avenue in the way the American public is finding out about the latest, so we wanted to make sure you had the latest information from an authoritative source.” said Rob Flaherty White, House director of digital strategy, in the meeting.

The White House has kept a close eye on TikTok due to its large young audience since taking office. The administration recruited dozens of TikTok stars last year to promote vaccination.

“People in my generation get all our information from TikTok,” said Kahil Greene, a 21-year-old with over 534,000 followers on TikTok. “It’s the first place we’re searching up new topics and learning about things.”

TikTok has been a key source of first-hand coverage from the war in Ukraine since its outbreak a on Feb. 24. Videos of Ukrainians bravely weathering bombings or franticly fleeing their homes have been shared on the platform, but so has misinformation and Russian propaganda.

The social media company has reportedly struggled adapting a culture built around fun, viral entertainment to serious concerns about misinformation during war. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, TikTok’s content moderators have scrambled to implement new policies to deal with questionable content and the users who share them. The company also announced last Thursday it would begin labelling state-controlled media in its app.

After the call, several of the attendees said they felt more empowered to debunk misinformation and communicate more effectively about the war in Ukraine, reports The Post. Within hours, the influencers began posting recaps of the briefing to their followers.

Among those was Greene, who also used the opportunity to call out the Biden administration for not “acknowledging its role in other occupations and invasions around the world.”

@kahlilgreene The White House invited content creators to learn more about the crisis in Ukraine. #hiddenhistory #ukraine #blackcommunitytiktok ♬ original sound - Kahlil

However, some who attended were impressed with the White House call. According to The Post, Jules Suzdaltsev, a Ukrainian-born journalist who runs the TikTok news channel Good Morning Bad News, said he thought the overall tone of the briefing was too soft and that officials dodged hard questions.  

“The energy of the call felt like a press briefing for kindergartners,” Suzdaltsev said.