TikTok gets thrown into election dispute as QAnon ballot conspiracy goes viral
The social media company took down the videos
Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube have each seen their share of election-related controversies in recent days and now TikTok is joining them.
The QAnon conspiracy theory movement has seen four videos posted to the video-sharing social network go viral since Election Day, garnering nearly 240,000 views, that claimed President Trump and Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf have "set up" Democrats to be revealed as frauds.
TikTok has taken down the videos, posted by users with the names "Kellyhoffman007," "Itskee77," "Kimmienc" and "Trumptasticgal."
A logo of a smartphone app TikTok is seen on a user post on a smartphone screen Monday, Sept. 28, 2020, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)
YOUTUBE, TWITTER PULL STEVE BANNON'S SHOW FOR VIOLENT THREATS AGAINST WRAY, FAUCI
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The videos, seen by Fox News, claim that ballots were secretly watermarked by the Trump administration in an effort to distinguish between so-called "legal ballots" and "illegal ballots." The videos add that this "sting operation" will ultimately result in a number of Democratic operatives being arrested.
In October, Trump said that he knew "nothing" about QAnon when pressed by NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie during a town hall event held in Miami.
"I know nothing about QAnon," Trump said in response to Guthrie's question about the movement, asking if he would denounce the fringe conspiracy theory.
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"I just told you," she said in one of her responses.
Trump responded: "You told me but what you tell me doesn't necessarily make it fact, I hate to say that. I know nothing about it. I do know they are very much against pedophilia. They fight it very hard but I know nothing about it."
In August, Trump was targeted by a pro-Chinese network on different social media platforms, including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
The network, known as "Spamoflauge Dragon," tried to take shots at the president on a number of issues, including the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the Trump's administration handling of its attempt to ban TikTok earlier this year. The network of spammers was ultimately taken down by all three social media platforms.
FOX Business has reached out TikTok USA, which is partly owned by Oracle and Walmart, with a request for comment for this story.
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Fox News' Gillian Turner and Sam Dorman contributed to this story.