TikTok's Tribal Tussle
TikTok's vibe is heating up again, as thousands protest President Trump's immigration sweep and fear a re-set of TikTok's algorithm to limit free speech online
This past week, thousands of American TikTokers began using coded language on the platform to evade censorship while organizing mass protests against President Trump’s deportation squads across the nation. Protesters fear his work to “save TikTok” might also enable him to start limiting free speech on the platform.
NEW YORK—At the start of each year, there’s always a lot of talk about what’s hot and what’s not.
This year? As our nation remains divided, some of the social media platforms which became politically active in last year’s election—TikTok, Twitch and others—are heating up again.
For many of their users and top influencers, especially those extremely online, political apathy is no longer an option.
Says cultural critic Brittany Luse, a journalism colleague and host of the It’s Been a Minute podcast: “Social media platforms are becoming identity badges, and all signs are now pointing to 2025 being the year when social media becomes less of a place to find out what’s happening in the world— and more of a place where we will be gathering to solidify our identities” and take action.
It’s already happening. It started up again last week.
‘Cute Winter Boots’
Prompted by news footage over the last few days showing ICE squads wresting undocumented immigrants from their homes, and churches, schools and hospitals—most recently in mass raids in Chicago—thousands of TikTok users have begun using coded language—Algospeak—to organize mass protests on the app, but in a way that evades algorithmic detection.
TikTokers have been flooding the platform with videos using a coded reference, “cute winter boots,” to trick its algorithm to classify their organizing as being talk about a business product—which TikTok’s algorithm favors most. The “cute winter boots” campaign has already whipped up protests in Newark, Dallas, Washington D.C. and Chicago. Additional protests are being planned in Los Angeles, Boston and Detroit.
“I see a lot of people on this app making plans to buy ‘cute winter boots,’” one TikToker posted, while another advised, “Here’s how to stay safe in your cute winter boots: memorize your First Amendment rights because you’ll need them when you’re out in your boots.”
Some TikTokers have been writing specific calls to action on paper (not detectable by algorithms), to hold up in front of their video cameras while they prattle on about how they’d like to see more cute winter boots. “The Revolution is here,” one teenager wrote. “They will try to make us scared. We must not let them. ICE is already raiding schools, churches and hospitals.” While continuing to hold up her sign, she said: “I think we were all surprised here in Indiana when it snowed, so if you don’t have winter boots you need to get them … and I hope you’ve learned about some cute winter boots in your area.”
Combat Boots Respond
Recently, Trump supporters on TikTok have caught on to the campaign, and are beginning to criticize the protest plans. Using the “cute winter boots” phrase, some are showing off their combat boots to suggest that they’ll be supporting ICE’s efforts during their raids, and also may attend some of the scheduled protests to fight back.
Will a battle of the boots break out later this week? This type of accelerated, call-and-response organizing isn’t completely new. Former President Barack Obama was the first to use social media strategically to help win the White House—twice. But only recently have platform users—and the platforms, themselves—been separating the red from the blue, to telegraph their identity.
On Bluesky? “If you are, this now says something about both your morals and how you feel about MAGA and Musk,” says NPR’s tech correspondent Bobby Allyn. “It’s the X (Twitter) resistance platform.” On the other hand, if you’re on Discord, for example, it also says something about your world view. “Many of these platforms have become markers of one’s identity, and this will continue to become more apparent in the months and years ahead,” Allyn said—especially as political division and polarization continues in response to the Trump administration.
Censorship Fears
Many U.S. TikTokers involved in this week’s protests say they are looking for new social media platforms to use amid increasing fears and claims that the app’s algorithms are now being re-set to limit free speech on the platform.
Big numbers of TikTokers have been flocking to Xiaohongshu, which many people are calling RedNote, which over the weekend added a feature to let users translate posts and comments between Mandarin and English. On Monday, the China government-owned app was at the top of Apple’s ranking of most downloaded apps, a spot it has held for much of the past week. According to data on RedNote, 32.6 million notes have been posted with the hashtag “TikTok refugee” as of Monday, gaining 2.3 billion views.
Some people still using TikTok say they have noticed a difference in the TikTok app after President Trump started working earlier this month to broker a sale of the platform to an American company, to enable it to keep operating legally in the U.S. Some TikTokers told Reuters recently that some activity on the platform, which was previously allowed, is now being removed or flagged—or is being tagged as “misinformation” for violating community guidelines, including for behavior previously permitted.
A recent article in Inc. magazine about the growing fears of censorship on the platform quotes TikTok user Lisa Cline saying on Meta’s Threads app “that she was having issues posting a video to TikTok criticizing Trump. “I tried to post this six times to TikTok and it wouldn’t let me because of censorship,” she told Inc. The video referenced Trump’s response to Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde after she asked Trump, at his inaugural prayer service at Washington’s National Cathedral, to show mercy on people who are “scared.”
TikTok, in a statement to Reuters, said its policies and algorithms “did not change” though Reuters reporter Doyinsola Oladipo wrote that “some users claim TikTok is now striking comments that used phrases like ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Free Luigi’”—a reference to Luigi Mangione, accused of killing United Healthcare’s CEO. Such comments had been previously allowed. TikTok says it does not allow content that promotes violent or hateful individuals on the platform.
“Social media will, in the future, become increasingly tribal,” NPR’s technology reporter Allyn predicts, “and a symbol of one’s identity as what happens when online and off continues to become one.”
What’s next?
The Trump administration is continuing to work on a plan to shift control of TikTok to American investors, many of whom have been Trump supporters.
According to National Public Radio, some of the talks have included speculation that TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, would retain a minority stake in the company but the app’s algorithm, data collection and software updates would be overseen by Oracle, the Austin, Texas-based software company, which already provides the foundation of TikTok’s web infrastructure. Other rumors, also unconfirmed, also put Elon Musk in contention—but nothing is confirmed and the parameters and players in the deal are still being assembled.
Trump didn’t always want to “save” TikTok. Back in 2020, he accused ByteDance of using TikTok to collect private information on American citizens—a national security claim that was, and remains, unproven. The claim, regardless, led Congress last year to ban TikTok from operating in the U.S. unless it could meet a January 19, 2025 deadline to divest. Trump, encouraged by billionaire Republican mega-donor Jeff Yass, who owns a $15 billion stake in TikTok, won a 75-day extension from the U.S. Supreme Court and is now helping the owners of TikTok broker a deal with American investors to keep the platform operating in the U.S., but with at least some American oversight.
Attention is the Prize
“Attention, not money, is now the fuel of American politics,” New York Times columnist Ezra Klein wrote in his Sunday column about Trump's talks with TikTok.
The big-tech billionaires now working with Trump to secure a deal “are not just seeking contracts or favors,” Klein wrote. “They’re seeking influence and centrality.” Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison, Musk and some of the other tech stars have been giving Trump money to support his campaign—and the attention he and they both crave in return. “For Trump, attention is mostly what he wants now,” Klein adds, “… so Trump has been happy, at least so far, to make that trade.”
In Trump’s world, Klein says, “everything is for sale.”
Said one “cute winter boots” protester interviewed in Chicago Monday: “Humane treatment and dignity is priceless. Free speech is priceless. We need to start demanding more of that now, too.”
Cute winter boots or combat boots? Which will carry the most clout this week? What do you think about social media’s cultural evolution? What’s next, in your view, for TikTok? Voice your take in our comments section. We always love hearing from you!