While Japan has taken the US to task over its use of Japanese IPs like Super Mario in White House social media posts, there have also been interventions closer to home. Despite Donald Trump petulantly declaring "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!" on social media when the singer endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024, he's continued to use her music in posts – until they suddenly went silent this week.
Team Trump used two Swift songs over the last week on TikTok. One included a caption playing on lyrics from the star's 2012 album Red. The other was captioned "I’m sure is going to be super excited we used her song!". The song in question was muted and later replaced with what sounds like an AI-generated song about Trump.
Both Trump's campaign accounts and the official White House communications have published a wide range of copyright music on videos promoting ICE raids and the bombing of Iran. Dozens of artists, including Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, Ariana Grande and MGMT, have previously asked the administration not to use their songs.
But Trump appears to have a particular obsession with TS. In June, his team posted a video with TS's Toy Story 5 song I Knew It, I Knew You on a video showing President Trump with children at the White House and dancing at a UFC fight. Two months earlier, a video of the crew of Artemis II meeting with Trump used High Infidelity.
As the women using Disney music against Meta Glasses have discovered, TikTok has a system that can automatically mute or remove videos that use unauthorised music via its audio recognition system. Artists can also now request manual removal from non-approved profiles.
The takedowns are a reminder than all brands need to secure proper licensing before using intellectual property, even political ones. Associating with a celebrity without their consent can alienate their fan base. Audiences expect brands to respect creators, otherwise the use of their work will be seen as antagonistic, amplifying a cultural feud In Trump's case, it's possible that this was his intention, but it's adding to the feeling of improvised chaos around the administration as the midterms approach.
