Bo Dittle, a top 3 conservative influencer and content creator on TikTok, has just been banned after a series of unclear warnings and strikes from the Chinese-owned company. Red Liberty Media interviewed 19-year-old Bo after CPAC in July of 2021 for comment.
Over Bo's TikTok career, he had accumulated over 100 million views, with his most popular video reaching nearly 5 million. Since the beginning of his publicly right-wing presence, he has had over 50 videos taken down. The second time Bo was temporarily banned, he was out for four months between February and June of 2021. The young influencer has been a strong critic of the Biden administration and has routinely published content over the controversial topics of abortion, Black Lives Matter, government mandates, and more. Currently, his most popular Instagram reel has over half a million views, in which his friend, Ty, attempts to pay with his black privilege card at a convenience store. The most recent video that had gotten him removed, where Ty was also featured, had gathered over 2 million views before Bo received a message stating that he had violated Community Guidelines. However, it was not specified what guidelines they were or how exactly they were "violated."
Bo believes that one of the final straws for TikTok was when he posted a video of dancer and media socialite Addison Rae briefly speaking to Donald Trump at the most recent UFC fight between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. The video was then taken down from Tik Tok on the grounds that it had "compromised the integrity of one of its influencers."
"This was the second time I've been banned. The first time I was banned was for about four months, from February until the beginning of June," Bo explained.
When asked the types of videos that he noticed were being taken down, Bo mentioned, "In the first video that got me canceled, I was talking about the degeneracy and immorality of rap music. They called me racist because they said that rap music was predominantly black and I was going against the African American community. That's why I was banned for four months- for making a statement about the immorality of some rap music."
Some may question why so many young people still use Tik Tok despite the blatant censorship and propaganda campaigns. Many are hesitant to download Tik Tok because they believe that they will be censored or removed automatically. Thus, this is what conservative users should expect. When asked to respond to those who might criticize him for operating from a Chinese-owned app while posting pro-America content, Bo stated, "This is a platform that claims to give people voices, and they're not doing so. The guidelines that Tik Tok has are so strict and one-sided. They don't allow a voice to anyone that wants to talk about serious, controversial issues."
Bo was also asked why young conservatives seem to be successful on Tik Tok, to which he responded, "Because I think we have the numbers. I think that young conservatives are taking over, and the only way Tik Tok knows how to combat that is to de-platform us and deny us a voice. If you look at The Republican Hypehouse (an account in which Bo is routinely featured), we have 1.2 million followers compared to the Dem Hypehouse with 200,000 followers."
For those who would like to know what Bo's primary objective is on TikTok, he said, "I try to make people laugh through politics. Most of my videos are skits seen as political comedy. I try to make fun of democrats in a kind-hearted way. I'm not trashing them. I'm just making light about how they get offended so easily."
Bo shared his final thoughts on the mass censorship of conservatives online, stating, "I think censorship is getting out of hand. Of course, my number 1 issue is always going to be abortion. I think it's disgusting. I'm very pro-life, but it's gotten to where our first amendment right is not being protected, especially on social media. Social media is horrifying, seeing as how quickly we're de-platformed. It's one of the biggest issues facing America right now, and it's going to take people like me and conservative influencers to speak out against it and make a change." Bo stated that despite this being just a temporary ban, he was also anticipating a permanent ban soon, as countless other conservative influencers have routinely been banned as well.
Currently, the debate for media platforms operating privately is still up in the air. Last May, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill to stop the censorship of Floridians by big tech, which allows individuals to sue whenever they are censored. Left-wing advocates state that this violates Section 230 of the US Constitution, which free-speech advocates heavily criticize. However, TikTok is a separate entity that many staunch Republicans believed to be breaching American privacy concerns.
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About the Author:
Bean Dashnea is currently a student of foreign language and political science. She has lived between the U.S. and Europe for nearly 14 years but considers Texas home. After Bean changed her party registration from Democrat to Republican circa 2018, she immediately recognized the public discourse shift. She knew she was caught in the war on culture and information. Bean currently works with local Republican chapters and primarily advocates for smaller government and geopolitical awareness.
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