TikTok users have shown they won't hesitate to take a stand against perceived injustices, and their latest protest is a prime example. In a stunning display of app user experience dissatisfaction, TikTok fans flooded Donald Trump's 2020 campaign app with one-star reviews, forcing Apple to reset the rating.
The review-bombing started in July, but it wasn't until August that things really heated up. As tensions between Trump and TikTok escalated, so did the negative reviews. The app's user experience took a significant hit as users posted complaints about bugs, glitches, and even personal information theft – all satirical swipes at the Trump administration's claims about TikTok's data practices.
By August 14, Apple had seen enough and reset the app's rating to 3.8, effectively wiping out the impact of the review-bombing. The protest had started gaining momentum around the time Trump signed an executive order banning US companies from doing business with TikTok's parent company, ByteDance – a move that many saw as an attack on the popular video-sharing platform.
The roots of the review-bombing can be traced back to July, when users galvanized by popular creator DeJuan Booker began leaving negative reviews to protest Trump's increasing hostility towards TikTok. The number of one-star ratings skyrocketed from 20,500 to 216,500 between July 7 and July 9.
TikTok activists have been a thorn in the side of the Trump campaign before – remember the K-Pop fans who allegedly tanked attendance at Trump's comeback rally in Oklahoma? With their latest protest, it's clear that TikTok users won't back down when it comes to defending their app and its user experience.