The Czech government has been widely mocked for using the Chinese-owned social media site TikTok and two young Czech YouTubers to try to convince the public that vaccines against COVID-19 are safe and effective.

The two influencers, 21 and 22-year-old Anna Sulcova and Jakub Gulab, were hired to make seven short videos showing the benefits of vaccines. Initially the government wanted to pay CZK500,000 (€19,250) for the campaign; however, after a wave of criticism of the fact that the young people would be paid so much for such very short and simple videos, the influencers have decided to do this for free. 

"I liked the idea of these successful young people who told me that they had been informing about the pandemic on their [social] profiles for a long time and now wanted to do a campaign in cooperation with the Government Office," said Prime Minister Andrej Babis.  All other explanations of the reasons for the government campaign are disinformation, according to the government´s press release.

Billionaire businessman turned politician Andrej Babis has built his party's dominant popularity on clever and expensive use of both traditional and electronic media, but this time he appears to have made a misstep by using a Chinese social network where teenagers watch amateur dance videos, hardly a demographic that is a key anti-vaccination at-risk group. The contract has been criticized by both government partners and opposition politicians as well as the public. 

"I would really like to live again in times when we have half a million crowns to just throw away on promoting the government on the Chinese social network for teenagers. But these times are not here yet," said the head of Mayors and Independents Vit Rakusan, as quoted by online newswire iDnes.cz.

TOP 09 chairwoman Marketa Pekarova Adamova said that the opposition has been calling on the government to improve communication since the spring, however "this really won't get better with TikTok”.

“I'd rather dance with other people at a concert than in Strakovka [the seat of the Government Office] on TikTok. It would be better for the government to advertise investment in the tracing process, or to devote more energy to managing the pandemic. Real actions inspire more confidence than showing people a chandelier,” criticized the member of the junior government partner and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tomas Petricek on . 

Minister of Health Jan Blatny said he does not understand this wave of criticism and mockery, because according to him this was not a campaign for the government or self-promotion on social networks, but rather a communication strategy that aims at getting information about vaccination and the epidemic to young people in a form they understand and can communicate to their grandparents.

According to communication expert Vladan Crha from the communication company Ami Digital, it is fine when a state institution tries to use modern communication. However, the principle of "if you don't know what, get an influencer" is not profound, because it is more a shout than a conceptual communication, he said. 

"The campaign will certainly have high viewing numbers, because there is a lot of talk about it, but it is a question of how much this form [of communication] will affect public opinion. Due to the media used, it also targets groups of the population that will get the vaccine in a year's time at the speed of the vaccination process in the Czech Republic,” Crha stressed.

According to another social network expert and former influencer Jonas Cumrik, TikTok makes sense for the government, as "they will find voters there", however, not with the influencers. “Yes to be there, but definitely not this way,” he said.