Harris, Trump campaigns rev up social media for debate in Philadelphia

NEW YORK (Reuters) – While tens of millions of Americans are expected to watch a debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris on their television screens on Tuesday, their campaigns are gearing up for a secondary battle on social media, planning viral memes and video edits to flood platforms.

Social media is playing an even more significant role in this year’s election cycle than it has in the past. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have drafted content creators, or influencers, to push information on their party’s policies and their candidates.

Ahead of the debate, the campaigns have begun to throw digital punches, and are promising to fact check each other.

Overall, Trump outperforms Harris and her campaign on X and TikTok based on followers. Her campaign has received over 100 million “likes” on its videos on TikTok versus Trump’s 44 million.

The Harris campaign’s official Kamala HQ account on social media platform X posted a video to its 1.3 million followers about what they said were lies they believe Trump will tell during the debate, and promised to “fact check him in real time.”

Part of her debate plan is to goad Trump into saying things that could become social media clips, advisers say.

The Team Trump X account, with 2.4 million followers, posted a video of Trump saying, “We do a little trolling,” with the caption, “Debate night mood.” The campaign told reporters it plans to fact check Harris as well.

Earlier, the White House said Republicans are spreading dangerous false claims about Haitian immigrants on social media, after U.S. vice presidential candidate JD Vance and others posted social messages falsely accusing them of eating pets.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Heather Timmons and Deepa Babington)