The following information is based on a general overview of a social media account demonstrating terror-related activity / sympathies.
Platform: TikTok
Additional Information: A Hizbullah supporter uses deliberate techniques on the platform to attract a large number of viewers and followers. The account has numerous videos, all of which are dedicated to Qassem Soleimani. The user makes use of viral hashtags and popular songs to attract a wide audience that extends beyond jihadis.
Screenshots And Excerpts:
The user has 10,500 TikTok followers.
The TikTok account has supporters and followers from around the world. In a video posted on October 15, the video features a comment from a user in Pakistan stating that they are a big fan.
The user makes use of some of TikTok's most popular hashtags in order to reach new audiences. A blog post on Hootsuite, a prominent social media management platform explains how popular hashtags can assist with amassing a broader audience. "Hashtags are important to use on TikTok because they can extend your reach beyond your followers. Hashtags can help the TikTok algorithm decide who would be most interested in seeing your content on their For You page (FYP). They can also get your content discovered by people interested in a particular topic, who might be searching for a specific phrase or tag."[1]
The video also features a song by an American rapper, thus appealing to a broader audience than those who seek jihadi content.
Another video from July 13 uses popular hashtags and has 52,700 likes.
On TikTok, users can discover videos and accounts by searching via songs. For example, the American rap song used in one of the posts on the account appears in 28,700 videos on the platform.
The full text of this report is available to MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor subscribers.
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[1] Blog.hootsuite.com/tiktok-hashtags, October 21, 2021.
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