Vice President Kamala Harris seems to be scoring big with younger voters on Snapchat, a platform that continues to grow in influence in the world of social media. This success is partly due to the platform’s ongoing ban of former President Donald Trump’s account, which was suspended back in January 2021 following the Capitol protests.
While Trump’s accounts have since been reinstated on platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and YouTube, Snapchat has refused to follow suit. And that decision has the Trump campaign crying foul.
Let’s rewind for a second. Trump, who was still president at the time of the January 6th incident, had urged his supporters to remain peaceful, but that didn’t stop several social media giants from booting him off their platforms, citing “inciting violence.”
Fast forward to today, most of those bans have been reversed — except for Snapchat, which seems to have no intention of letting Trump back into the fold. But here’s where it gets interesting: despite keeping Trump in the digital doghouse, Snapchat has still extended an olive branch — or at least a business opportunity — by inviting the Trump campaign to purchase ad space on their platform.
In an almost laughable twist, Snapchat’s team told Trump’s campaign they’d happily take their advertising dollars, as long as the ads pass through Snapchat’s in-house fact-checking process. Unsurprisingly, the Trump campaign isn’t buying it.
According to a report from The New York Times, they haven’t spent a single dollar on the platform, while Kamala Harris and her campaign (teamed up with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz) have dropped over $5.3 million in Snapchat ads. That’s a lot of change in exchange for eyeballs, and those eyeballs could make a big difference, especially when 80% of Snapchat users are eligible voters — with the majority under 35, a key demographic for Harris.
Naturally, the Trump campaign has fired back, accusing Snapchat of playing favorites and engaging in election interference. A particularly pointed post from the Trump War Room’s X account took aim at the situation: “Snapchat REFUSES to reinstate President Trump’s account — but then shamelessly asks the Trump campaign to advertise with Snapchat.
Big Tech is all in for Kamala!” The post came with a leaked email from Snapchat’s team, practically pleading with the Trump campaign to reconsider. They even threw out ideas like using the RNC’s profile or creating a new one for another candidate like J.D. Vance.
It’s an odd dynamic, isn’t it? On one hand, Snapchat’s refusal to allow Trump back could hurt the former president’s outreach to a younger, tech-savvy base. On the other, the platform clearly recognizes the value of Trump’s brand and the potential advertising dollars they could be missing out on. But here’s where the rubber meets the road: Snapchat currently boasts over 100 million users in the U.S., and that’s a significant chunk of voters — especially in an election year.