It was recently announced that the White House would be “briefing” TikTok influencers on the Russia/Ukraine conflict in an effort to spread its narrative on high fuel prices. Though gas prices were already prior to the escalation of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the White House is blaming it all on Putin.
The White House told the TikTok influencers who were invited on the zoom call to blame the high gas prices on Putin. pic.twitter.com/qBCEA6r2C7
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) March 14, 2022
This video is courtesy of TikTok influencer Ellie Zeiler, who has 10.5 million followers on the platform.
Zeiler mentioned that she talked to White House officials about the issue, and they explained the causes. “We’re getting out of a two-year pandemic. When use goes up, price goes up.” Zeiler echoed. She then mentioned that her call with the White House covered the situation in Ukraine and how that impacted things here in America. “Now with Putin starting this horrific fight between Ukraine and Russia, nobody wants to work with him and do international trade”.
The messaging on high gas prices and inflation has been consistent among Biden and his allies, as well as in the corporate press. Now, this message is being repeated across many different platforms and targeting those outside of the cable news audience.
Policies such as Biden’s first day executive order to halt the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline were not mentioned in Zeiler’s video, nor has it been mentioned by the administration. Despite the obvious move away from oil and gas production, the White House did tweet out a graph touting America’s energy independence under the Biden Administration.
U.S. natural gas production is at a record high. In fact, the U.S. was a net exporter of petroleum and petroleum products in each of the last two years, and will be a net exporter of natural gas for years to come. pic.twitter.com/T0q5Z1Egr2
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 10, 2022
One thing was missing from the graph, which would be the fact that the graph ends before Biden was inaugurated. The biggest uptick in domestic oil production happened during the Trump Administration.
This is not the first time that the Biden White House enlisted the help of internet influencers and celebrities to target its message to a young audience. In an effort to get young people vaccinated against COVID-19, the White House invited singer Olivia Rodrigo to advocate for the vaccines.
The Biden White House also stoked controversy when it enlisted TikTok influencer Benny Drama to promote vaccines for grade school-aged kids. Drama’s videos were filmed just days before Afghanistan fell to the Taliban.
Details: Benny Drama aka Kooper promote vaccines in White House videohttps://t.co/iu7Pt63fVT
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) August 9, 2021
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