Republicans demand Biden administration STOP inviting TikTok influencers to the White House
Republicans wrote a letter to the White House legal counsel urging him to stop President Biden from bringing in influencers who use TikTok to promote his agenda.
“This poses a serious threat to national security at an increasingly perilous time as China continues its military aggression against Taiwan and economic coercion around the world,” the letter, led by Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., to advise Stuart Delery.
Axios reported last week that the White House is gathering an army of young influencers to promote its agenda on TikTok to young voters.
Owned by CCP-affiliated party ByteDance, TikTok has come under increasing scrutiny on Capitol Hill, but lawmakers have yet to unite around a proposal to fight reports that the platform is sharing user data with the Chinese government.
“This poses a serious threat to national security at an increasingly dangerous time as China continues its military aggression against Taiwan and economic coercion around the world,” the letter, led by Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo. to advise Stuart Delery.
The White House is recruiting an army of young influencers to promote its agenda on TikTok to young voters
“This utterly irresponsible action is a blatant and grave threat to national security that will only enhance the espionage efforts of one of our greatest adversaries,” said the letter, signed by more than a dozen Republicans and obtained by DailyMail.com.
The letter urged Delery, in conjunction with the Department of Defense and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to “stop this before it happens” and asked Delery to comment by April 28 on what his agency is working on. will do the thing.
Nearly 140 million Americans use TikTok every month, making a ban on the platform a huge political risk.
But at the same time, the Biden administration passed the Restrict Act, a bill that would give the Department of Commerce more powers to restrict foreign apps, but not mandate it.
Weeks ago, the White House demanded that TikTok be sold by ByteDance or it would be banned. The Chinese government said it would never approve a sale of TikTok, and there has been no legislative movement on the matter since then.
Alford said in a statement to DailyMail.com that he supported a blanket ban on the platform.
“My Republican colleagues and I have been calling for a complete ban on the platform for months. Joe Biden’s decision to not only use the platform, but also bring “influencers” to the White House is unacceptable and poses a serious threat to national security.”
The letter stated that inviting influencers to the White House to create TikToks amounts to “essentially inviting and promoting CCP infiltration in one of our most restricted spaces.”
Representatives Nancy Mace, SC, Jeff Van Drew, NJ, Nick LaLota, NY, Andy Ogles, Tenn., Guy Reschenthaler, Pa., Randy Feenstra, Iowa, Anna Paulina Luna, Florida, Jennifer Kiggans, Va., Cory Mills, Fla ., Bill Posey, Fla., Carlos Gimenez, Fla., James Moylan, Guam, Rick Crawford, Ark., Tom Kean, NJ, and Rudy Yakym, Ind., all signed the letter.
It follows Monday when Senator Thom Tillis, RN.C., and Representative Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, led 15 other Republicans in asking the Senate Judiciary Committee and House Administration Committee to prevent their colleagues from using TikTok.
The application has already been banned from government phones in a bipartisan bill passed by Congress.
During a hearing last month, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced a remarkable bipartisan quirk that spooked the public about TikTok’s potential ability to “manipulate America” with its video algorithm and to enable the CCP to look into the private data of American users.
But some lawmakers are concerned that banning the platform from US app stores would spark a legal battle over free speech. Much of TikTok’s threat is based on potential problems rather than current problems, which some experts say is a weak argument for holding up a ban in court.
In the Senate last month, two GOP heavyweights butted heads as Sen. Josh Hawley, Mo., sought unanimous approval to pass his bill that would ban TikTok from operating in the U.S., but libertarian Rand Paul, Ky., thwarted his efforts, citing concerns over the First Amendment and the Constitution’s ban on Congress from finding a party guilty of a felony.