Newslore: The COVID-19 Pandemic in TikTok’s Representations

Abstract

The article examines the videos of the Internet platform TikTok during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. I argue that the structural and pragmatic features of the video clips can be described through the analytical concepts “folklore of disaster” and “newslore”. Coronavirus infection in Tiktokers’ representations is endowed with agency, the problems of implementing quarantine measures are revealed by them through jokes, and the exchange of new experiences of living in self-isolation becomes the main folklore pattern. Content analysis shows that TikTok can be attributed to a new specific space for newslore existence, and folklore, thus, appears as a type of cultural communication. The TikTok platform itself is a cultural resource that symbolically builds a distinct community.