FYP Politics to a pro-people politics
For-you-page politics. We now live in an age where many young peoples’ views are determined by algorithms and whatever their peers are thinking and discussing about on social media platforms, particularly Instagram and TikTok. This is pushing us to turn the page over to another political chapter – one that we have seen before – one of hatred and division.
Some of my readers more advanced in years may not know that a for-you-page (FYP) is a feed of content created by an algorithm and specific to an individual user. The FYP shows the user a mix of content from accounts that it has interacted with before, and, based on this, accounts that the algorithm thinks the user might be interested in. So, it doesn’t take very long before the content that one is viewing on their phone develops a thread of similarity, consistency…a theme.
As such it’s not surprising that platforms such as TikTok are on the rise as the political hubs of Gen Z, helping stoke the fires of the new additions to our electorate. You only have to look at the most recent general election to assess this impact, with Reform UK’s socially conservative sycophants taking TikTok by storm. One party insider – shocked at the party’s digital success – claimed that they were “revolting against the whole political consensus”. Revolting is definitely the word I’d use.
Politics is an easy game. A zero-sum game, which Farage knows how to play. The Reform leader seeks to make enemies, which is far easier than coming up with a manifesto that you can actually see the benefit of, for all. An “unembarrassed racist” Farage seeks to prop up his far right hateful views on his campaign against illegal immigration. On the surface, legitimate policy grumblings. What it actually is? The ramblings of an old, divisive, racist political figure who will write this next chapter of British political history in blood.
Reform UK was initially surprised by the engagement it received from young TikTok users, and unfortunately, being the political junkie I am, I have not been able to avoid coming across their ranks. Stumbling upon some far right spillage, and letting my curiosity get the better of me as I browse the comments, I am shocked to see that users as young as 15 and as old as 50 are sharing the same hateful views as Farage. Those too young to have had the privilege of a political education and those old enough to know better are blindly following the flags of the far-right propaganda which is plaguing TikTok and other social media platforms.
Thankfully, Reform UK forgot that approximately 76% of TikTok users in the UK are aged 15-24 years old, meaning that their internet sensationalism did not translate into a landslide of votes in the 2024 “genny lec”. That much of Reform and the far-right’s fanbase consists of children who are yet to exercise their vote says a lot about the maturity that is reinforcing the politics of hate in 2024. Yet, there is tremendous cause for concern.
The Green Party, a political force campaigning for the future of the planet and civilisation as we know it, has, over a -political life spanning 40+ years, only managed to secure 4 seats this year. Reform UK, on the other hand, a force of hatred and racism in British politics with a considerably shorter existence, won 5. Despite being founded in 2018 and having little impact in the day-to-day governance of the UK, it is clear that, with a 14.3% vote share, Reform and the far-right have had a drastic impact on public opinion, turning the tide against innocent people and the voice of reason.
With people drawing nearer and nearer to far-right politics that flirts on the border of fascism, TikTok algorithms will only exacerbate such a decline into madness, reinforcing young peoples’ beliefs that migrants, people of other ethnicities and those who, in their dictator’s words, “fail to assimilate” are the enemies of Britain. They are not. In an interview in 2011, Farage said:
“All my life I’ve been fascinated by people of different countries, people of different classes. You know, I like people. I’m a naturally pretty gregarious sort of person”
It is unlikely you’d hear such jolly sentiments from the far-right, flag-waver of 2024. A year that has seen the far right take to the streets in their masses, seeing people feel threatened because there are those who wish to see them banished simply because English may not be their first language, or that they celebrate a culture not consistent with the “Britain” that Farage and his sycophants have conjured up on social media.
I’m not advocating for a ban on TikTok and other fire-stoking platforms – that would not only bring me down to their level but put me on the same shelf as those calling for the app to be banned in the United States. No, no. What I am calling for is something that I’ve always had a leaning to: political education. Not lessons teaching students how to throw grenades across the political spectrum and win party-political battles – lessons teaching students how to debate, to argue, and, most importantly, to listen. I know many of the far-right’s followers will argue that Farage is the voice of reason, and we may indeed slide down the philosophical slope of debating what reason actually is, but that, again, would be counterproductive.
What I mean is that we must ensure that future generations of voters are well-versed in the art of persuasion, and not just accepting that their favourite political celeb is right because they shout the loudest or offer the clearest and easiest explanation – the politics of a country that has only recently left its throne as an imperial powerhouse and that which is home to millions upon millions of free individuals can never be simple, clear, or easy. We must teach the future voters and kingmakers of this country to listen to other peoples’ ideas of reason, to their beliefs, their experiences, their struggles.
It is all too easy to sit and point fingers at someone about which you know nothing. Far too easy to blame people of another culture of which you have no understanding. Simple to take to the streets and riot, letting your anger out at Greggs and small businesses owned by people of other ethnicities rather than debating and appreciating differences. This is the danger of the far right. It is easy. Made even more so through the fact that far-right politics has infiltrated our phone screens and content feeds. Our daily lives.
I write all this, of course, from a position of privilege. Despite my background I have had the enormous privilege of reading History & Politics at Queen Mary University of London, where I have not only had the ear and the minds of amazing faculty but have been fortunate to share my experiences with thousands of people from across the globe. Each bringing refreshing perspectives, experiences, and ways of thinking, my fellow students have helped me develop a new personal politics that would not have been possible had I not been in such a stimulating and diverse intellectual environment
Of course, university is not a privilege that is extended to everyone, nor is it the object of everyone’s educational ambitions, which is why political know-how – the type I’ve just described– is a vital necessity in securing a more positive, tolerant future. Such an education won’t prevent political knife battles across social media platforms, but it would equip those impressionable with the tools to decide for themselves where they stand, doing so with reflection, reason, and no small degree of respect for their fellow human.
This political education, this revolt against the undeserved consensus of the far right, must take place in secondary schools. For it is not enough to confine knowledge of all things politics to lecture halls and university libraries, leaving those do not who pursue further education beyond 18 years of age to pick it up in small portions via social media. No. Politics needs to be embedded into the very fabric of our secondary school education, at least equipping students with the ability to argue and debate democratically ought to be. Ignorance is most certainly not bliss, that much we have learnt so far this year. “We need education that incorporates the role and responsibility that citizens have and must exercise” are words that I wrote over a year ago, and there could not be a more pressing time to act on them.
Let’s turn over, from for-you-page politics to a pro-people politics.
Archie Rankin is a Fellow at the Sixteenth Council
