Link Lauren (born 1999) is an American TikTok content creator, musician, British royal family commentator, and a former senior aide for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his 2024 presidential election campaign. [1]
Lauren was raised in Dallas, Texas and graduated from New York University in 2022 with a degree in music business and entertainment. [2]
He started his career on TikTok creating songs before shifting focus to commentary on the British royal family. Following this commentary, he became a political news online influencer who has been affiliated with Marianne Williamson, Dean Phillips, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. [3] Kennedy hired Lauren as a paid senior advisor in November 2023 in hopes of using his online presence on TikTok to reach younger voters. According to the Washington Post, Lauren played a key role in organizing some of Kennedy's most successful online campaigns. [2] By May 2024, it was reported that he had parted ways with Kennedy's campaign for unknown reasons. [4] [5]
Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., also known by his initials RFK Jr., is an American politician, environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine activist, and conspiracy theorist. He is the chairman and founder of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group that is a leading proponent of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. He was an independent candidate in the 2024 United States presidential election. A member of the Kennedy family, he is a son of the U.S. attorney general and senator Robert F. Kennedy, and a nephew of the U.S. president John F. Kennedy and senator Ted Kennedy.
Jimmie Lee Hoagland is a Pulitzer prize-winning American journalist. He is a contributing editor to The Washington Post, since 2010, previously serving as an associate editor, senior foreign correspondent, and columnist.
Gavin de Becker is an American security specialist and author. He has worked for governments, large corporations, and public figures. Reportedly a billionaire, he runs Gavin de Becker and Associates, which he founded in 1978. The firm protects and advises many of the world's most prominent public figures. He is the author of several books on violence, most notably The Gift of Fear, and his books have been published in twenty-five languages.
Eastern High School is a public high school in Washington, D.C. The school is located on the eastern edge of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, at the intersection of 17th Street and East Capital Street Northeast. Eastern was a part of the District of Columbia Public Schools restructuring project, reopening in 2011 to incoming first-year students and growing by a grade level each year. It graduated its first class in 2015. In addition, Eastern was designated an International Baccalaureate school in 2013 and awarded its first IB diploma in 2015.
Tarah Marie Wheeler is an American technology and cybersecurity author, public speaker, computer security professional, and executive. She is currently CEO of Red Queen Dynamics and Senior Fellow of Global Cyber Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, and she is the author of Women in Tech.
Helder Guimarães (11/16/1982) is Portuguese performer, magician, and storyteller. Known for his unique approach of sleight-of-hand magic, storytelling and performance, Helder's work has been featured at the Kennedy Center, TED Talks, Talks at Google and Off-Broadway productions.
TikTok, whose mainland Chinese counterpart is Douyin, is a short-form video hosting service owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from three seconds to 60 minutes. It can be accessed with a smart phone app.
Nicole Ann Shanahan is an American attorney specializing in Silicon Valley. She was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s running mate in his 2024 independent presidential campaign.
Lis Smith is an American political strategist affiliated with the Democratic Party. She is most well known for being the senior advisor for Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign, deputy manager of Martin O'Malley's 2016 presidential campaign and the director of rapid response for Barack Obama's 2012 campaign. She has also directed communications and strategy for a number of other gubernatorial, mayoral and congressional campaigns.
Taylor Lorenz is an American journalist. She is a columnist for The Washington Post and a podcaster for Vox Media, hosting a show called Power User. She was previously a technology reporter for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, and Business Insider, and social media editor for the Daily Mail. She is particularly known for covering Internet culture. In 2023, she published a book called Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet.
A devious lick was a challenge in which North American middle school and high school students posted videos of themselves stealing, vandalizing, or showing off one or more items they stole in their school, typically from a bathroom. The trend went viral on TikTok in 2021 and has resulted in the arrests of many students as well as various warnings being issued by police departments. It also allegedly spread to some schools in Latin America, England, Germany, Australia and Latvia.
Libs of TikTok is a handle for various far-right and anti-LGBT social-media accounts operated by Chaya Raichik, a former real estate agent. Raichik uses the accounts to repost content created by left-wing and LGBT people on TikTok, and on other social-media platforms, often with hostile, mocking, or derogatory commentary. The accounts promote hate speech and transphobia, and spread false claims, especially relating to medical care of transgender children. The Twitter account, also known by the handle @LibsofTikTok, has nearly 3 million followers as of February 2024 and has become influential among American conservatives and the political right. Libs of TikTok's social-media accounts have received several temporary suspensions and a permanent suspension from TikTok.
Gina L. DiVittorio is an American writer, comedian, and political commentator. She is best known for The Pocket Report, a satirical news web series focused on American politics and society that she writes, performs, and edits, and a viral video about the dating app Hinge.
Gen-Z for Change, formerly called TikTok for Biden, is an American non-profit advocacy organization, founded in 2020 that uses social media to promote civil discourse and civil action among members of Generation Z. It consists of a core team of 15–20 people and a coalition of over 500 content creators and activists, and partners with influencers, activists and celebrities to produce multimedia content. Its advocacy addresses a wide range of topics such as abortion rights, COVID-19, student debt cancellation, climate change, income inequality, social inequality, immigration, racial justice, gun control, foreign policy, voting rights, and LGBT issues. Collectively, Gen-Z for Change's members have 540 million followers and receive 1.5 billion monthly views on social media.
Aidan Kohn-Murphy is an American social media content creator and political activist. He is the founder of Gen-Z for Change, a non-profit advocacy organization that uses social media to promote civil discourse and political action among members of Generation Z.
JonsBones is an American startup company best known for selling medical osteology bone kits. The company mainly sells its bone collection to universities, hospitals, chiropractors medical students and artists.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his campaign for the 2024 United States presidential election on April 19, 2023. An environmental lawyer, writer, and member of the Kennedy family, he is known for advocating anti-vaccine misinformation and public health conspiracy theories. He initially ran for the Democratic Party nomination, but announced on October 9, 2023, that he would run as an independent candidate. On March 26, 2024, Kennedy announced Nicole Shanahan as his running mate. On August 23, Kennedy largely suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump.
Planet Lockdown is a film containing misinformation about COVID-19 that was banned on YouTube and Facebook.
Jacob Helberg is an American author and technology advisor. Helberg currently serves as a commissioner for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, and senior advisor to Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies. Helberg has commented extensively on US-China relations, and the national security implications of Chinese-developed web apps like TikTok.
The Hill and Valley Forum is a consortium of American lawmakers and venture capitalists first convened in March 2023 to combat China's influence on the US technology industry. Founded by United States–China Economic and Security Review Commission member Jacob Helberg, the working group includes Peter Thiel and Vinod Khosla. The forum's initial private dinner in Washington, D.C. was held in advance of congressional testimony by TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, and was attended by then Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr.