Biden campaign says it will keep using TikTok - despite president signing law that could ban app

Kelly Rissman
·2 min read
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Joe Biden’s campaign has said that it will continue to use TikTok through election season despite the president signing into law a measure that could lead to the social media app’s ban.

“A fragmented media environment requires us to show up and meet voters where they are — and that includes online,” a Biden campaign official told NBC News. “Tik Tok is one of many places we’re making sure our content is being seen by voters.”

The Biden campaign says it intends to use “every tool we have to reach young voters where they are” and has vowed to continue using it with “enhanced security measures.”

The statements were made as Mr Biden on Wednesday signed into law the so-called “TikTok ban”, which arrived at his desk tucked inside a massive foreign aid package. Despite his campaign’s remarks on the matter, Mr Biden ignored questions about TikTok at a press conference on Wednesday after signing the measure.

The Independent has contacted the Biden campaign for comment.

The law’s language states that ByteDance, the video-sharing app’s parent company, must sell the bill within the next nine months. If not, TikTok will be removed from app stores in the US.

This means that the earliest the ban could start is next January — after the 2024 election season has come and gone.

Still, his campaign’s decision to use the Chinese-owned social media platform comes in sharp contrast to what the White House has said about the app.

Earlier this month, John Kirby, White House National Security Communications Advisor, told reporters,“TikTok’s ownership by ByteDance gives us pause and reason to be concerned about the security of data on that application and the use of that data by a company that has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.”

Meanwhile, @bidenhq, the campaign’s TikTok account, enjoys more than 306,000 followers since it joined the platform in February.

The account posts a variety of content, from posting in-the-wild videos of Mr Biden entering a Wawa to highlights from the president’s State of the Union address to memes making fun of his 2024 GOP rival Donald Trump allegedly sleeping in the hush money trial courtroom.