Sophie Doggett, whose TikTok was previously populated by videos on everyday things such as herself or her pets, posted to her TikTok account on April 25 a clip of Heard’s lawyer asking a question of a witness and then immediately objecting to the response. It is one of many moments in the trial that has been seized upon by people like Doggett, as clips of testimony and references to the case have pervaded TikTok in a way that no trial has before. That’s partly because the proceeding, set to resume Monday, is being livestreamed during the age of TikTok, and also because of the high-profile celebrities the case involves.
Doggett, who paired the clip to playful music, said she gained 30,000 followers seemingly overnight from the post which has, to date, been viewed more than 5 million times. Asked about her follower count before the viral post, she says it was 6,668, a number she recites by heart. In the three weeks since the post, she’s collected more than 25,000 additional followers. Her account is now dedicated to Depp-related posts, some of which pertain to the trial, others to past Depp films or interviews. The top three posts pinned to Doggett’s account have more than 14 million collective views.
If there’s any question of where her loyalty lies, it is with Depp, something that’s conveyed through the photo associated with her TikTok account — white text against a black background that reads “Justice for Johnny Depp.”
Emily D. Baker, a former LA deputy district attorney turned online creator, streams live legal commentary of the trial proceedings on her YouTube page, which has more than 330,000 subscribers. Her viewers increasingly request for her to respond to theories or footage they have seen on TikTok, she says.
“When you have cameras streaming in the courtroom, people are going to clock every strange behavior. And they have,” said Baker.
Many are in the comment sections on YouTube channels to cheer Depp or jeer Heard — typically in that order. Others have set up their own video broadcasts to provide ongoing commentary of the trial in real-time or devoted Instagram accounts to posting updates on the case. Perhaps most striking — because of the way in which the platform operates and how users take to it — is TikTok.
Like Doggett, two other TikTok users CNN Business spoke with recounted similar stories of going from hundreds or thousands of followers to tens of thousands of followers in a matter of days due to Depp-related posts.
One TikTok user, who is based in the UK, said she posted a video on April 27 celebrating Depp for freeing his lawyer’s snagged charger cord with a comment, “the little things.” “I wasn’t expecting anyone to reach out, or like it, or share it even,” she said, noting that she’d originally created her account to post about films. But it has since garnered more than 10 million views. She’s continued posting about the trial and she says her account has gone from fewer than 300 followers to more than 50,000.
Maria Pugsley, also based in the UK, similarly told CNN Business that followers to her account grew from fewer than 10,000 to more than 37,000. Previously, she said her…