Why the White House Tiktok Went Completely Muted: the Zara Larsson Outrage Explained
By Alexander Ross
Why was the audio muted on the White House TikTok video?
The master track "Midnight Sun" was pulled after Swedish artist Zara Larsson and her rights holders objected to its use over ICE deportation footage, resulting in a standard platform audio copyright removal.
Can artists legally stop political entities from using their music on social media?
Yes. While politicians occasionally claim fair use during live rally walk-outs under statutory venue licenses, pre-recorded social media posts published by institutional accounts must abide by digital platform terms of service and commercial sync licensing laws. Rights holders can issue strikes that force platform operators to mute or delete the clips.
Did the White House remove the deportation video from its profile?
The video remained published on the account, but playback runs completely silent. The visual montage of migrant processing and deportation flights remains accessible without the underlying pop soundtrack.
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
