The phrase "cute winter boots" gained new meaning on TikTok as users come up with new "algospeak" to discuss topics platform algorithms typically devalue. Concerned about rumors that the app is now suppressing certain content, terms like "cute winter boots" are popping up as references to changes in immigration policy and other laws under the second Trump administration.
President Donald Trump's renewed efforts to restrict migration into the U.S. and promises of mass deportations have reinvigorated efforts to resist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
What is the meaning of 'cute winter boots' on TikTok?
Starting just after inauguration day, TikTokers began using this phrase to refer to actions one can take to disrupt the activities of ICE. Get it? ICE? Winter boots?
Videos by those on the political left referencing cute winter boots often involve tips for safely protesting, lessons about the First Amendment, and news or statements about policies and actions by the Trump administration.
Other accounts use the phrase in hopes of boosting footage of protests already underway or general content criticizing the new administration. Some are proposing to establish Jan. 29, 2025, as a nation-wide protest day against anti-immigrant policy.
On the right, some users have claimed that the term specifically refers to guns, saying that leftists and liberals are gathering firearms in a plot to violently resist ICE or the government as a whole. This, however, is a more typical activity among right-wing activists than the left, and none of the left-wing videos we viewed mentioned weaponry unless referencing this rumor.
Why use algospeak?
TikTokers have long substituted certain words for others that the app is known to target for removal from the FYP and other actions that hurt a video's reach. Historically, most of these terms have involved violence, drug use, and illegal activities.
Following the brief TikTok outage in the U.S. that the company says Trump resolved with assurances that allowed it to remain online for another 75 days, rumors circulated that the app is now punishing users for criticizing the administration and its supporters and publishing any leftist content.
One X user, @KarlMaxxed, further accused TikTok of blocking searches for terms like "fascism" and "Donald Trump rigged election" in the U.S. However, others have been able to search for these topics with American IP addresses and get results.
In statements to media outlets like Newsweek, TikTok says that there were some "hiccups" after they brought the app back online and that they did not intentionally alter the algorithm. However, this has not convinced many users on the left, who feel that their feeds changed drastically after the brief outage.
Terms like "cute winter boots" and "senator, I'm Singaporean" have therefore continued to trend among these accounts in an attempt to get anti-Trump or related content onto people's FYPs.
Some theorize that references to anything that you can sell, like boots, will boost your content ever further, especially if you link to online shops. You may find videos talking about ICE and similar topics crowded with popular terms like "Stanleys," "Wicked," and "Taylor Swift."
"What the algorithm likes is products," user Diana of @citiesbydiana told User Mag. "It’s a way to talk about resisting the federal government in a way that will actually reach people."
'Cute winter boots' encounters backlash
Naturally, right-wing TikTok accounts are not fans of this trend and have responded with mocking videos. User @anthonykort criticized one cute winter boots video for talking about one part of the U.S. Constitution when another part allows Congress to make laws about immigration.
"Is that the Constitution?" he says. "Why don't you flip over to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 4. Read it with me: 'The Congress shall have power to establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization.' You just pulled out the document that gave Congress the very power to create ICE to enforce what you're fighting against."
The TikToker this user responded to spoke on the First Amendment, which gives people the right to protest the way Congress uses its powers or protest the President for making policy changes outside of Congress, such as with executive orders.
Another user, @peoplesfreedom, who does not explicitly state how he identifies politically, cautions those engaging in this kind of algospeak against making public videos declaring how they plan to resist a government administration.
"If you are in a revolutionary movement—your revolutionary movement is organizing people on social media with your real face and name, then you are not part of a real revolutionary movement," this user warns. "If you are a guerilla soldier, you wouldn't be telling the enemy what you should be called. You wouldn't be telling the enemy what your plans are."
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