On Thursday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh went viral after a TikTok video showed the federal politician lip-syncing to “Choices” by rapper E-40 to showcase his party’s policy initiatives.

The video was liked more than 174,000 times and received close to 7,000 comments. It was also shared to other social media platforms, and even garnered the praise of Lisa Raitt, deputy leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, who tweeted, “Gotta tell ya — it’s an effective 15 seconds. And fun to watch. Well done @theJagmeetSingh.”

Singh is hardly the first person to talk about Canadian politics on the video-sharing app. Over the course of the election campaign, the number of Canadian election videos on TikTok has skyrocketed with the app increasingly becoming a forum for young people to voice their opinions on federal politics — and the campaigns are starting to take notice.

TikTok is a relatively new social media platform that allows people to post short videos — usually anywhere between five to 15 seconds long — with a soundtrack. It rose to popularity in North America late last summer when it merged with musical.ly, a similar lip-sync app, and has developed into Gen Z’s latest obsession.

Videos tagged with #elxn43 have received more than 5.5 million views on the app. Ones tagged #justintrudeau have received more than 10.2 million views, #jagmeetsingh 1.7 million views, and #andrewscheer upwards of 636,000 views.

Users use the platform to do everything from poke fun at the different leaders’ perceived behaviour and campaign style — such as one playing off the lyrics of Pink’s “So What,” and another to Khalid’s “Young Dumb and Broke” — to criticize party leaders’ policies and comment on what it’s like talking about politics around the Thanksgiving table, to boast about their preferred candidate in creative ways, such as one video, which was liked more than 14,000 times, that compares the different political parties to apple-picking.

Jeffrey Dvorkin, director of the journalism program at the University of Toronto Scarborough and an expert in social media and democratic practice, believes the platform is a “terrific” way for the youth to get involved and talk about the issues.

“It’s a way of young people using various media that they prefer to be able to comment on their own terms about the election,” he said in an interview with the Star on Saturday. “If it gets people ... thinking about the issues and thinking about politics and thinking why an election is so important, that should be encouraged.”

In particular, Dvorkin mentioned that after Singh’s viral TikTok, the platform could become a way for campaigns to reach younger voters.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May also made an appearance on the app. Just over a week ago, a user posted a video of May doing a signature TikTok meme dance called “the woah” with another person.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Aside from the short videos on the election, the platform itself is important to note as it could become the preferred medium for younger generations during an election period, says Megan Boler, a professor at U of T’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and a researcher in media and digital activism.

She pointed to Facebook having a critical role in getting out the youth vote for Barack Obama in 2008, and later Twitter becoming an influential player during the 2016 campaign.

“Will we look back and say the TikTok appears to be a new player in the election landscape?” Boler wrote in an email to the Star. It works particularly well, Boler remarked, because it lets users take popularized music to frame bite-sized political messages.

“This platform not only gives young people a means for voicing political opinion, but represents the kind of short sound byte that has potential to go viral and circulate widely,” she said. “We are in the midst of a radical sea-change, witnessing how new social media platforms are changing the fundamental landscape of political messaging and debate.”

Ilya Bañares is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star’s radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @ilyaoverseas

Read more about: