Biden warned against keeping a ‘dangerous’ TikTok campaign account as list of politicians still using the app despite possible ban is revealed
Top Republicans are demanding that Joe Biden’s campaign stop its “dangerous” use of TikTok after many lawmakers, top presidential advisers and security officials warned of the threats to national security.
Biden’s reelection campaign joined TikTok in February and has posted numerous videos about the president, often using social media trends and jargon to gain support from younger voters using the app.
But last week, Biden signed a law passed by Congress that requires ByteDance – TikTok’s Chinese parent company – to sell the app within a year or face a ban in the US over privacy concerns.
Still, the president’s campaign does not want to stop using social media.
“It would be foolish to write off every place where people get information about the president,” Biden campaign deputy manager Rob Flaherty has said of their use of the yet-to-be-banned app.
Now Republicans are responding to the campaign, calling their decision to stay on TikTok worrying and hypocritical.
In early March, a bill was introduced against TikTok’s ownership, which was later passed by the House of Representatives. Last week, the Senate passed a nearly identical version of the bill and President Joe Biden signed it into law. The TikTok bill forces ByteDance – the Chinese owner of the app – to sell the app or have it banned in the US within a year.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, sent a letter to Joe Biden on Monday urging him to suspend his campaign’s use of TikTok. He said his decision to continue using the app is concerning and dangerous given its notable connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“The national security threats posed by TikTok are serious,” Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, wrote in a letter to Biden first obtained by DailyMail.com. “We don’t need to remind you why using TikTok in your campaign is dangerous.”
“Until TikTok is no longer in the hands of the CCP, we call on you to suspend your TikTok account.”
“Leadership starts at the very top, and we hope you can set a good example for the many Americans who use TikTok by suspending use of this application until we know it is safe for use.”
The letter was signed as such by Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas.
After a year of investigating TikTok’s concerns, the bipartisan House China Select Committee introduced a bill in March to separate the app from Chinese company ByteDance.
The lawmakers alleged that the app is used to spy on Americans and that valuable data about TikTok’s 170 million American users is accessible to Chinese officials within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Furthermore, the group revealed that ByteDance officials can manipulate the app’s algorithm – believed to be one of the best in social media – to serve content to Americans that could impact society and the upcoming elections in November.
“CCP spyware lives free in the phones of millions of Americans,” Ernst wrote on X. “It’s time to end TikTok’s national security risk.”
And Biden administration officials have said the same thing: TikTok poses a major threat to the US
“We are concerned, as every American should be concerned, about data security and what ByteDance and what the Chinese Communist Party can do with the information they can gather from Americans’ use of the application,” said John Kirby, National White House official. safety communications advisor, said March 17.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also asked the question of whether “we want TikTok’s data, the data of children and adults, to stay here in America or go to China?”
The fact that TikTok can and has been used to spy on American politicians and their families – such as Biden’s – was also exposed in Ernst’s letter.
Joe Biden’s campaign continues to use the TikTok app despite the president signing a law last week that could ban the app in the US
“TikTok has a proven track record of spying on American citizens,” Ernst wrote to Biden. “ByteDance’s China-based executives used TikTok to spy on American journalists reporting on the application’s CCP ties.”
“ByteDance employees reportedly even had access to a search tool that gave them access to the friends lists of US politicians and their families – including members of your own family.”
Despite the long list of concerns about the platform, many lawmakers continue to use the app, lest they lose the opportunity to get their message to younger voters.
Top Democrats Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, John Fetterman and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Kristen Gillibrand of New York, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Patty Murray of Washington and Jon Ossoff of Georgia all have verified TikTok accounts .
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont also has a verified account.
Conversely, no Republican senator has a verified TikTok account.
Of all the above-mentioned senators with TikTok accounts, only Sanders and Merkley voted against the possible TikTok ban last week.
Notable Democrats in the House of Representatives such as Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez, NY, Ilhan Omar, Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib, Mich., Cori Bush, Mo., Maxwell Frost, Florida, Adam Schiff, California, Barbara Lee, California. , Bennie Thompson, Miss., and Ayana Pressley, Mass., all have verified TikTok accounts as well.
Thompson even has a profile despite his influential role as a top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee.
“TikTok is clearly and simply a threat to national security,” Nehls told DailyMail.com in a statement.
“Despite signing legislation recognizing this fact, Joe Biden’s presidential campaign continues to use TikTok, blatantly ignoring the serious concerns raised by officials in his own administration.”
“It is clear that Joe Biden is putting politics over the safety of the American people by keeping his TikTok campaign account active.”
Numerous lawmakers, mostly Democrats, have also verified TikTok accounts.
The White House and Joe Biden’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.