'TikTok rejects' cultivate their grievances on video-sharing app Clapper, a refuge for conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers, and 'patriot' truckers (2024)

In the video, Candice claims she had almost 50,000 TikTok followers before the platform banned her for violating its community guidelines. The Trump supporter posted videos that falsely alleged widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election and frequently spoke about QAnon-related conspiracy theories.

After being banned from TikTok, Candice moved all of her videos to Clapper, writing in her bio: "I'm a follower of Christ, Mom, Wife, Patriot, Warrior fighting child sex trafficking!!" She has more than 10,000 followers.

In one of her most recent videos, seen by Insider, Candice shows off an anti-vaxx T-shirt she is selling, which has the words "My body, my choice" written on it.

This type of content is not unusual for Clapper, which has previously touted its lack of moderation.

"We are passionate about people being able to express themselves in open ways without having to deal with biased censors," the company said in a statement earlier this year, according to the Tech Times.

What is Clapper?

Like Parler and Gab before it, Clapper has become a new popular home for right-wing conservatives who disagree with the moderation decisions made recently by large tech companies, including Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok.

The app was first launched in July 2020 but has since been downloaded more than half a million times, according to The Verge. After the deadly Capitol riots on January 6, most of their users joined the platform, the website reported.

Clapper has a very similar interface to TikTok, allowing users to share the latest trends via short-form video format. Users can like and comment on posts, but there is also a "Clapback" feature that allows people to post a response either in support of the video or opposing it.

But unlike TikTok, the app's "For You page" looks jarringly different. Instead of dancing influencers and videos of cute puppies, Clapper's feed is riddled with conspiracy theories, anti-vax misinformation, and videos of truckers who call themselves "patriots."

It is also home to some of the far-right militia organizations that have become well known since the Capitol riots, including the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and the Three Percenters.

"It's like the Island of Misfit Toys"

However, one more noticeable aspect of Clapper is that it includes many reposts of old TikTok videos. Many users call themselves "TikTok rejects," and when you scroll through TikTok itself, there are dozens of videos of angry Trump supporters announcing their transition to Clapper under the hashtag #joinclapper.

"People on Clapper are obsessed with TikTok. They're seriously disgruntled, and they're constantly in disbelief that they got banned," Max Rizzuto, a research assistant at The Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) who has studied the platform, told Insider.

"It's like the Island of Misfit Toys over there because I'm sure many of them are still observing TikTok. Except they're commenting on videos they see on TikTok — on Clapper," he added.

Rizzuto believes that Clapper is potentially dangerous because it's a video-based platform that is not moderated and has an opaque algorithm.

"The unique harm of a platform like Clapper is that it is completely opaque in how it delivers content to people," he said. "Even if you're scrolling on Clapper for like half an hour, you can very easily find some like reactionary content. If you engage with it, your timeline becomes even more reactionary."

"So this is definitely a way to smuggle messages to a large audience," he added.

The team behind Clapper is also opaque. According to The Verge, the app was founded by Edison Chen, who is currently based in Dallas, Texas, and manages a team of 15 employees.

However, Chen has responded to reports that Clapper was becoming increasingly radicalized following the insurrection. After The Verge reported finding hundreds of QAnon-related videos on the platform in January, Chen issued a statement saying they had removed over 400 videos and 20 accounts.

Yet, hundreds of the types of videos still remain on the platform.

"I highly doubt that the small team that Clapper has created an algorithm that doesn't create echo chambers, that doesn't like lock people into content that is controversial and radicalizing," Rizzuto told Insider.

The company also publicly condemned the attack on the Capitol, tweeting on January 10: "As many Americans, we watched in horror as a violent mob breached the US Capitol in the name of 'political protest.' In the aftermath of these events, we want to re-emphasize that the Clapper platform has a zero tolerance on violence of any kind, as well as individuals who incite violence for personal or political gains."

—Clapper (@NewsClapper) January 10, 2021

Several weeks later, on January 21, Clapper went on to change their community guidelines, adding in clauses that condone any content that is "unlawful, obscene, p*rnographic, lewd, fraudulent, mis-info, conspiracy (QAnon)."

"Some of the users on our app are talking a lot about QAnon, and we are still working on it to investigate further if they truly are against our community guidelines," Chen told The Verge.

Clapper did not respond to Insider after multiple requests for comment.