National Service and Cilla Black memes: Do Labor or the Tories have a better TikTok game?

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With TikTok now used by over 9 million people in the UK, it's no surprise that major political parties have jumped on the bandwagon to try to attract young voters.

Social media has been touted as a key battleground in general elections for many years, but after launching in the UK in August 2018, TikTok was still in its infancy during the last vote in late 2019.

Political advertising is banned on TikTok, although both parties hope the content will reach the right audiences thanks to the app's complex usage algorithms.

The Labor Party launched its account on the app three days before the Conservatives. – by releasing an 11-second video of leader Sir Keir Starmer declaring: “Change. This is the goal of this election. »

Since then, the feed has been a mix of clips from the party's election campaign, brief explanations and, most successfully, memes mocking the Conservatives and the Prime Minister. < /p>

The Conservative Party shared its first TikTok on Sunday morning: a 50-second clip of Rishi Sunak in a white shirt announcing plans to introduce compulsory national service for 18-year-olds if he returns to number 10.

In the video, the Prime Minister begins: "Hi TikTok, sorry to introduce me to your usual non-politics feed."

Tiktok is now used by more than 9 million people in the UK (Getty)

Mr Sunak's national service pledge has become the subject of memes on Labor's page.

A post with over two million views and over 316,000 likes, under the title "Rishi Sunak announces his national service", Lord Farquaad, the minor main antagonist of the 2001 film Shrek, announces: "Some of you may die, but that's...