“TikTok is the threat,” said Meta
Meta makes itself out to be a victim by planting Anti-TikTok media. (Photo: Imgflip)
“Get the message out that while Meta is the current punching bag, TikTok is the real threat,” said an email from Targeted Victory, the consulting firm Meta hired to plant fake TikTok challenges and op-eds to malign TikTok as a danger to society.
Meta's smear campaign vs. TikTok
Meta hired Targeted Victory—one of the biggest right-leaning Republican consulting firms in the US—to wage a nationwide campaign to turn public opinion against TikTok in an attempt to vie for cultural relevance and win back young users from its biggest competitor.
In the US, teenage Facebook users have declined by 13% since 2019 and were projected to drop 45% over the next two years. Meanwhile, TikTok became the most downloaded app in 2021 and had teens spending “2-3X more time” on TikTok than Instagram.
The ongoing campaign includes promoting unconfirmed stories about purported TikTok trends that actually originated from Facebook to promote harmful behavior and destructive acts—such as the “devious licks” challenge wherein students vandalize school property and the “slap the teacher” challenge.
Op-eds and letters to the editor were also placed in major regional news outlets as a back channel for their anti-TikTok narrative.
“Dream would be to get stories with headlines like ‘From dances to danger: how TikTok has become the most harmful social media space for kids,’ ” said a Targeted Victory staffer.
Campaign operatives pushed lawmakers, political reporters, and local politicians to take down TikTok, hiding behind their competitor’s prominence as a way to deflect from Meta’s own privacy and antitrust concerns.
“Bonus points if we can fit this into a broader message that the current bills/proposals aren’t where [state attorneys general] or members of Congress should be focused,” another staffer wrote.
When asked for a statement, Targeted Victory said the company “manages bipartisan teams on behalf of our clients” and has worked with Meta for several years, saying the company is “proud of the work we have done.”
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone defended the campaign saying, “We believe all platforms, including TikTok, should face a level of scrutiny consistent with their growing success.”
