Teenagers on TikTok and K-pop fans have claimed responsibility for the lack of supporters at Donald Trump’s campaign rally.
The president’s election campaign had promised large crowds in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday, but the 19,000-seat BOK Center looked only half full and an overflow stage outside was dismantled as there were no crowds.
Users of the short-form mobile video platform TikTok and K-pop (Korean pop music) fans have claimed they registered potentially hundreds of thousands of tickets for the rally.
The Trump campaign asked people on Twitter on 11 June to sign-up for the free tickets.
It was picked up by K-pop fans who began sharing the tweet within the large community and asking them to register then not show up.
The trend then spread to TikTok where videos encouraging people to do the same racked up millions of views.
“It spread mostly through Alt TikTok – we kept it on the quiet side where people do pranks and a lot of activism,” YouTuber Elijah Daniel, 26, told the New York Times.
“K-pop Twitter and Alt TikTok have a good alliance where they spread information amongst each other very quickly.
“They all know the algorithms and how they can boost videos to get where they want.”
To keep the plan under wraps, most users deleted their posts after a day or two to prevent it from spreading out of their social media communities.
But after it was evident the Trump campaign rally was lacking supporters they came out on Twitter to declare the ploy a victory.
To keep the plan under wraps, most users deleted their posts after a day or two to prevent it from spreading out of their social media communities.
But after it was evident the Trump campaign rally was lacking supporters they came out on Twitter to declare the ploy a victory.
