Biden admin asks TikTok stars to blame Putin for gas prices. Here’s how it’s going

White House officials held a Zoom call with 30 TikTok influencers Friday to brief them on the Russia-Ukraine war according to the Biden administration’s narrative. 

Part of that narrative is that Russian President Vladimir Putin is to blame for record-high gas prices, even though gas prices have been rising since Biden took office. 

But the public isn’t buying that narrative.  According to a recent YouGov/Yahoo News poll, Americans place Biden at the top of the list of who’s to blame for gas prices. 

In desperation, the White House is turning to social media influencers to help convince the public that Putin is to blame for the price of gas. TikTok, which caters to a young demographic, has been a prime source of on-the-ground information about the war. 

Some of the young social media stars included Kahlil Greene, who has over half a million followers, Jules Terpak, who has over 270,000 followers, and Ellie Zeiler, with over 10.5 million followers. 

The meeting included White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki along with national security officials, who briefed the influencers on how to get aid to the Ukrainians, America’s interests and goals in the regions, and of course rising gas prices. 

Internet celebrity Ellie Zeiler, who has just turned 18, understood her role immediately. 

“I’m here to relay the information in a more digestible manner to my followers,” Zeiler said. “I would consider myself a White House correspondent for Gen Z.” 

Zeiler, who typically posts dance content, posted a video to TikTok explaining how gas prices work and how it’s Putin’s fault. 

“I had the opportunity to ask the White House why gas down the street is $7 and here’s what they said,” she began. “The obvious reason: we are getting out of a two-year pandemic. When use goes up, price goes up.” 

“But the call was predominantly about Ukraine and Russia, so how does that relate? Russia is one of the top three producers of oil, and it is actually their number-one revenue source,” Zeiler continued. “Now, with Putin starting this horrific fight between Ukraine and Russia, nobody wants to work with him and do international trade. So, with people being scared of war and limited resources, prices are bound to go up as well.” 

“For the people who can’t pay $7 for a gallon of gas, there’s an app called GasBuddy that shows you the cheapest gas near you,” Zeiler offered. 

Zeiler faced backlash from social media users, including one who said that “Saying exactly what government tells you to say is called propaganda.” 

As if that weren’t enough, popular sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL), which is known for being a platform for woke progressive ideology, mocked the Biden administration’s latest PR initiative. 

The actors, who played Joe Biden and Jen Psaki, portrayed Biden as technologically challenged and that the meeting was supposed to be a joke. 

“This week as the war in Ukraine intensified, access to Facebook and Instagram in the country were shut off, leaving only one source of information: TikTok,” the narrator introduced. “So on Thursday, the White House responded by holding a national security briefing with some of the nation’s top TikTok creators.” 

Biden, played by cast member James Austin Johnson, gravely thanked the six “TikTok celebrities” for answering their nation’s call in a time of need. 

He later thanked Jen Psaki, played by Kate McKinnon, for having the “vision” to set up the meeting, to which Psaki replied that she suggested it as a joke.