Biden Joins ‘Chinese Spy App’ TikTok Despite Ban On Federal Accounts
The Biden campaign has joined the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok in a desperate bid to connect with teens and young adults, despite concerns that it is a “Chinese spy app” and President Joe Biden’s usage of the app could risk exposure to America’s adversary.
On Sunday, the Biden campaign unveiled its new TikTok account — just a few days after a bipartisan group of lawmakers demanded that the White House blacklist TikTok’s parent company, Chinese Communist Party-controlled ByteDance. The move also came two weeks after FBI Director Christopher Wray warned Congress that TikTok allows the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to “control data collection on millions of users.”
The Biden campaign announced the move in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Hey by the way, we just joined TikTok,” the post read, linking to the newly created account — which includes a Super Bowl-themed interview video of Biden, captioned: “lol hey guys.”
The Biden campaign told CNBC that the TikTok account is “part of an effort to meet voters where they are.” According to Pew Research data, 32% of adults between the ages of 18 and 29 regularly get their news from TikTok as of late 2023. This is a likely reason for the Biden campaign’s decision, considering the fact that this voter group is more likely to support Biden — with the latest Economist/YouGov data showing the president’s approval rating among Americans 18-29 years old is 48%, which is four points higher than his approval among 30-44-year-olds and ten points higher than those 45 and older.
This move is shocking considering Biden ratified a spending bill in December 2022 that banned the use of TikTok for federal employees, citing security concerns. Many states have banned the Chinese-owned app on state employees’ devices as well. The decision to ban the app on government devices came after TikTok admitted that the app had previously spied on Western journalists.
China-based employees of TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, have also been confirmed to have repeatedly accessed private data of American users, according to 14 statements from TikTok employees obtained by BuzzFeed News, along with leaked audio from internal company meetings. During a September 2021 meeting, a member of TikTok’s Trust and Safety department was heard admitting that “everything is seen in China.”
Just one day after the Biden campaign’s decision to join TikTok, White House national security spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the Biden administration has “concerns about the preservation of data and the potential misuse of that data and privacy information by foreign actors.”
Nonetheless, Kirby refused to comment on the Biden campaign’s decision during the same press conference.
Meanwhile, critics have slammed Biden for putting the country at risk in the desperate bid to court TikTok users.
“Nothing like giving the CCP all the data from a Presidential campaign,” wrote Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL). “Open invitation for election influence!”
“Lmao he signs a ban on an app because he thinks it’s dangerous then joins the app because he thinks it will bring in voters,” one X user wrote. “You just can’t make this stuff up.”
“Is this what China gets for giving the Big Guy 10%?” another user asked, referring to a message found on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop suggesting that a portion of foreign business funds were given to his father.
Another user argued that in the Biden administration, “National security takes second place to Biden’s re-election. See the U.S. Border & Ukraine.”
