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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Andrew Brown

Andrew Barr's office behind TikTok account

The TikTok account has been pushing out content designed to spruik Canberra. Pictures: Karleen Minney, TikTok

Andrew Barr's office is behind a new TikTok account designed to spruik the capital to the rest of the country.

But don't expect the chief minister to be busting out dance moves to the latest trend or taking part in the next viral challenge on the video-sharing app any time soon.

The @goodnewscbr account was set up in early June by the chief minister's office, and has been producing a steady stream of short videos on the platform, including ones featuring Woden's street art, the Garran surge centre and whether Canberra's light rail was faster than Melbourne's trams.

"Canberra is great. Much more on Insta. By the office of ACT Chief Minister," the account's bio said.

In the almost two months since the account was created, more than 25 videos have been put out, ranging from showcasing Canberra to tourists to lambasting Canberrans for hoarding toilet paper during recent Covid scares.

So far, the account has racked up more than 600 followers, with its videos liked more than 11,000 times.

Most of the same content appear on a similarly titled Instagram account, which was aimed to "[bring] the best of Canberra to brighten your feed". While Mr Barr himself is yet to create a TikTok account, other state leaders such as Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews and WA Premier Mark McGowan are active on the platform.

A spokeswoman for the chief minister said the account was designed to be another popular channel to share existing content.

"[The account is] no different from the dozens of social media platforms and accounts out there," the spokeswoman said.

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