TikTok is spreading false posts suggesting Trump was already found not guilty in NY trial

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As the jury heard testimony and began deliberations in the Manhattan criminal trial of former President Donald Trump over accusations that he covered up a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election, users on TikTok have been falsely suggesting he has already been found not guilty.

On May 29, the jury began deliberations for Trump’s first criminal trial, wrapping the first day of deliberations without a verdict.

Media Matters has now identified numerous TikTok videos falsely suggesting that a verdict was already reached, with the videos earning millions of combined views and hundreds of thousands of combined likes.

The TikTok videos, which have been posted over the course of the trial and include one example that has earned over 2.2 million views alone, called it “breaking news” and claimed “the jury has spoken,” “let freedom ring,” and “Trump is found not guilty” while “Michael Cohen found guilty.” Additionally, Media Matters found that TikTok’s autofilled search suggestion on one of the videos directed users to search for “trump not guilty today.”

These videos are the latest example of TikTok users earning engagement from misinformation and harmful content. In 2020, the platform allowed videos with election misinformation to earn over 200,000 combined views, and more recently, deceptively altered videos of President Joe Biden with audio added to depict him receiving profanity-filled jeers spread on TikTok without any labeling or disclosure. After Trump was first indicted in the Manhattan criminal case in March 2023, TikTok users reacted with violent rhetoric, saying, “I smell a civil war,” and, “It’s about to be hell to pay.” Additionally, Media Matters identified dozens of videos, including some that earned millions of views, that included Justin Mohn’s violent propaganda after he allegedly killed and beheaded his father, related deepfakes, and still images of a severed head with the head blurred out.